reporter Briana Brownlee<\/a> and photojournalist Jesse Hanson spoke with Jacksonville residents about what they are seeing on sidewalks and shared spaces and what they think about the proposed rules.<\/p>\nNick Jensen said he has noticed e-bikes moving quickly, particularly when riders leave the road and use sidewalks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I do see the e-bikes, they go a little fast,\u201d Jensen said. \u201cIf they stick to the road, that\u2019s okay, but when they are up on the sidewalks, that can get a little dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phillip Pelle, who lives in San Marco, said he supports putting limits on how fast riders can travel in spaces they share with pedestrians.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are walking down a sidewalk or any public place, they need to put some parameters on speed, and I am always an advocate of wearing a helmet,\u201d Pelle said.<\/p>\n
Luiza Bhakowska, a mother and Jacksonville resident, said safety concerns came up in her own family when her son asked for an e-bike.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m concerned about my kids, so we don\u2019t necessarily allow those,\u201d Bhakowska said. \u201cMy son wanted it, but we talked about how it\u2019s not safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she believes 15 mph is a reasonable limit in areas where riders may encounter children and pedestrians.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think 15 is safe enough,\u201d Bhakowska said. \u201cWhen you go around neighborhoods, and there are kids playing, same with school zone areas, 15 is definitely safe enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattie Brooken told News4JAX she supports the proposed speed restriction but believes the city should also consider the age of riders.<\/p>\n
\u201cLimit the age, put an age restriction on it, like 12 and under, no,\u201d Brooken said. \u201cYou know, make sure they are old enough to react in a way that\u2019s going to keep them safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original version of the ordinance included a minimum age provision, but that requirement was removed as council members revised the legislation.<\/p>\n
What happens next?<\/p>\n
Council member Michael Boylan introduced the e-bike ordinance in July.<\/p>\n
The legislation was assigned to three council committees. <\/p>\n
On Monday, the Rules Committee advanced a substitute version 5-2, while the Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health & Safety Committee advanced it 4-1. The Transportation, Energy & Utilities Committee approved the substitute 5-0 Tuesday.<\/p>\n
That clears the committee process and sends the proposal back to the full Jacksonville City Council for consideration.<\/p>\n
If approved, the ordinance would add the new e-bike regulations to Jacksonville\u2019s traffic code.<\/p>\n
Full statement from the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office takes the issue of reckless and unsafe e-bike use seriously, particularly when it poses a threat to motorists, pedestrians, and other road users.<\/p>\n
JSO will continue to enforce the provisions of Florida state law related to reckless driving, including taking enforcement action when e-bike riders operate in a reckless or dangerous manner on our roadways.<\/p>\n
With respect to the proposed ordinance, we do not believe establishing a new sidewalk speed limit accompanied by only 26 signs throughout the city provides sufficient or fair notice to the citizens who would be subject to that restriction. Clear and adequate notice is an important consideration when creating and enforcing a new traffic regulation.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the decision to adopt this ordinance or not is left up to the City Council. Regardless of their decision, JSO will continue to prioritize roadway safety and enforce applicable Florida law to address reckless or dangerous e-bike operations.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville is one step closer to setting new rules for e-bike riders, including a 15…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9024,502,1171,116,118,117,1415,1872,5436,99],"class_list":["post-402279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-city-of-jacksonville","tag-community","tag-e-bikes","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-sheriffs-office","tag-jso","tag-morning-show","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}