Carlsbad Y.E.S. Organization Hear from Carlsbad Police Traffic Division

TR Robertson
The monthly meeting of the Youth Enrichment Services group heard a presentation from Lt. Jason Arnotti, Traffic Division Manager, detailing the upcoming E-Bike Ordinance that will go into effect on March 26th in Carlsbad. Lt. Arnotti detailed the events that led to the introduction of the upcoming ordinance and exactly what is stipulated in the ordinance as it relates to e-bikes and public safety. He said there has been a 233% increase in collisions since 2019 involving e-bikes.

In August of 2022, the City of Carlsbad declared a local state of emergency due to increase in collisions involving bikes and specifically e-bikes and motor vehicles. Unfortunately, a fatal e-bike collision and several other incidents caused concerns to the Carlsbad City Council and the Carlsbad Police Department. Assemblymember Tasha Boener introduced a pilot program bill, AB 2234, that was signed into law by Governor Newsom in September 2024, to allow municipalities within San Diego County to introduce ordinances banning children younger than 12 years old from riding Class 1 or 2 e-bikes. After community feedback, observation of e-bike safety trends, city council discussions, an ordinance concerning e-bike restrictions was adopted unanimously by the Carlsbad City Council on February 24.
With a 60-day warning period, the ordinance will go into effect on May 25 with full enforcement and ticketing.

The specifics of the ordinance include prohibiting riders under 12 from riding e-bikes; requiring helmets for all riders under 18 years of age; banning e-bikes at Poinsettia and Pine avenue Community Parks; not allowing any passengers on e-bikes if the e-bike is not designed for additional passengers; the e-bike must have a red light or reflector on the e-bike visible from 500 feet; and speeds are not to exceed 28 mph.

The reason for specifically banning use at the two parks is due to the number of incidents that have occurred there. The ordinance also allows the Carlsbad Police Department to impound the e-bike if the rider is riding recklessly, exceeding speed limits, becoming a public nuisance, performing stunts on public streets or in violation of other traffic laws and this will require a parent to take a safety course before the e-bike will be released back to the parent.

Lt. Arnotti went over some of the issues the police department has to deal with when stopping e-bike offenders such as pursuit and locating and “corralling” offenders. He said they do use drones when available, but they do have limited resources and police coverage as they also have to deal with a wide variety of other offenses and situations within the city. One question was asked about placing cameras in certain locations, but he said they have to be cautious about the laws surrounding these cameras, monitoring them and facial recognition issues.

Other North County cities will be looking at and evaluating the Carlsbad E-bike ordinances as they begin in May to see how they are working to determine if additional restrictions are needed in their cities.