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Berkley weighs electric bike ban for sidewalks, parks
Berkley is the latest Metro Detroit community to address the growing popularity of e-bikes.
BERKLEY, Mich. (FOX 2) - The city of Berkley is considering a ban on e-bikes on sidewalks and parks as safety concerns grow around Metro Detroit.
The backstory:
Police are seeing an increase in crashes involving e-bikes, and doctors are seeing an increase in injuries. Some communities are working to restrict e-bikes or ban them altogether.
Electric bikes can reach speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour, and many riders decline to wear helmets.
Higher speeds for bikes- not to mention scooters and skateboards, means more serious injury risks.
Berkley is just the latest community to consider taking action, with a proposal scheduled to be discussed at tonight's city council meeting at 7 p.m.
E-bike proposal in Berkley
What's next:
Trustees are expected to talk about possibly banning e-bikes as well as scooters and skateboards.
More: Read the proposal here
They would be banned from the downtown area as well. While E-bikes could be prohibited from sidewalks and parks.
Children would have to be at least 14 years old to ride e-bikes, but for the lower speed models there would not be an age or helmet requirement for them.
Other cities to limit e-bikes
Dig deeper:
Dearborn Heights and Grosse Pointe Woods have banned e-bikes on city property, pointing to serious safety concerns.
South Lyon has prohibited them from being used on downtown sidewalks.
Crashes involving these e-bikes can be much more severe - even life-threatening.
In June, a Ferndale man died when his e-bike collided with a road commission truck.
Sometimes they're on the sidewalk, sometimes they're in the street. When it comes to injuries, FOX 2 spoke with an emergency room doctor from DMC.
He says he's seen everything from minor injuries to major trauma.
"These things are going 15, 20, sometimes up to 30 miles per hour," said Dr. Brian O'Neil. "We're seeing a lot more injuries because they're moving a lot faster. They're not wearing helmets. The greater majority of what we're seeing now are head injuries and upper-extremity injuries."
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The Source: Information for this report is from Berkley's city meeting agenda and previous coverage.