Coral Springs police discuss rules of e-bikes, e-motos ahead of safety town hall

E-bike safety has been a hot topic in Coral Springs, where police have responded to nearly 50 crashes involving the popular electric devices since September 2025.

Motor Ofc. Jason Whisnant with the Coral Springs Police Department was recently interviewed on the city’s Under the Sun podcast, discussing traffic enforcement and e-bikes with Public Safety Marketing Manager Ryan Himmel.

Their conversation comes as the city prepares for a town hall on e-bike safety scheduled for March 31. Coral Springs has been grappling with a recent uptick in crashes involving electric scooters and bikes, particularly among juveniles.

For young riders, the issue begins with parents’ decision to buy a high-speed device that is more akin to a dirt bike than a bicycle, Whisnant said.

“Parents are buying these things thinking that they’re an e-scooter or they’re an e-bike. They’re not,” Whisnant said. “They’re a motorcycle. So there’s a big differentiation between the three.”

The City Commission recently amended a local ordinance to allow e-bikes on most city sidewalks, excluding parks, provided they go under 15 mph and slow to 5 mph or less within 25 feet of pedestrians.

But Whisnant said many youth operators aren’t following the rules of either the sidewalk or the road.

“If you’re operating them legally, you’re operating it the same you would as a bicycle, right?” Whisnant said. “So you can ride it on the sidewalk, you can go across crosswalks and stuff, just like you’re a pedestrian, or you can be in the roadway, and then you’re operating it as a vehicle now. So you have to abide by all the same traffic laws that a car does.”

He said riders are weaving in and out of traffic, doing stunts, crossing without the right of way and sometimes operating without lights. But he added it’s partly an optics problem that makes people believe the devices aren’t as high-powered or dangerous as they are, simply because they’re electric.

“For some reason, because it’s these “e” things, they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s just a toy. It’s not serious,’” Whisnant said. “It is serious. You’re operating it like a motor vehicle. And then now there’s consequences because crashes do happen.”

In January, a teen riding an e-moto suffered life-threatening injuries when he was hit by a car that was turning into the Atlantic Crossings Plaza. Then in February, a 62-year-old man riding an e-bike near the intersection of Eagle Trace Boulevard and Coral Ridge Drive was hit and killed by a pickup truck.

After that crash, the police department launched a public safety awareness and enforcement campaign in an attempt to curb incidents.

Whisnant clarified the difference between e-bikes and e-motorcycles, the latter of which are not street legal and can only be ridden on private property unless it’s registered as a motor vehicle, with all the regulations to boot.

“An e-bike is going to be 750 watts or less, it’s going to have operable pedals and it’s only going to do 28 miles per hour or less,” Whisnant said. “If it’s above any of those things or doesn’t meet that criteria, then it’s an e-motorcycle.”

Once it’s a motorcycle, riders must be over 16, pass a course, register their bike as a vehicle, have a motorcycle endorsement, wear a helmet if under 21 and follow the rules of the road, according to Florida law.

While it’s the responsibility of everyone on the road to follow the law and pay attention, in the event of a crash, the person on a motorcycle or bike is going to be the one getting seriously hurt, Whisnant said. This elevates the need for defensive driving skills that sometimes kids don’t have, he added.

“What we’re finding is a lot of times, it’s not 100% the driver of the car’s fault,” Whisnant said. “It’s the operators of the e-motorcycles, the e-bicycles and scooters that are not following the law themselves. So they’re putting themselves in a position to get hit, and they’re the ones that are going to lose every single time.”

From September 2025 to February 2026, police shared they received calls about 45 crashes involving e-bikes, e-motos or e-scooters, including one fatal accident. In all but two of the crashes, the operator wasn’t wearing a helmet, police said.

Over two-thirds of the crashes also involved minors, data shows.

“Frankly, we’re tired of seeing kids get injured in car accidents. I mean, it’s horrible for us,” Whisnant said. “A lot of us, we have kids, some of them around the same age. We don’t want to respond to a call where a kid’s riding through the road in the middle of the night with no lights on and gets hit by a car.”

For those interested in discussing the subject, the city is hosting its e-bike town hall on Tuesday, March 31, at 6 p.m. in the City Commission chambers at City Hall.