HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Hillsborough County Commissioners will discuss a proposed ordinance on changes to e-bikes and e-scooters Wednesday.
The discussion comes as concerns grow about the safety of e-bikes and e-scooters.
WATCH: Changes to e-bikes and e-scooters could be coming in Hillsborough County
“He was vibrant. He was enthusiastic. He was full of ideas. He was going to have a wonderful life ahead of him," said Michelle Lynch. Last year, she told us about the crash that took her son Connor's life. “He was riding his scooter back to his apartment after leaving keys in a friend's car, and a car turned in front of him while riding his scooter, and he could not stop in time.”
Connor was just 19 years old at the time. Lynch said after the crash, she learned how fast some of these scooters and e-bikes can go and that really concerned her. It concerns more than just parents and doctors.
“A lot of these kids are coming in with significant injuries such as fractures, things that they have to go to the OR to fix,: said Dr. Ebony Hunter, an emergency care physician at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital.
County commissioners in Hillsborough County are talking about major changes because it concerns them too.
The proposed ordinance would cap speeds on shared paths and trails at no more than 15 miles per hour. You could still ride on sidewalks, but you wouldn’t be able to go more than 10 miles per hour, and on the road or a bike path, it caps the speed at 28 miles per hour.
You also wouldn’t be allowed to tamper with the e-bike or scooter to make it go faster than it’s designed.
The ordinance also sets maintenance expectations, like having working brakes, reflectors, and lights, and wearing a helmet. Riders must also yield to people walking and give a verbal warning before they pass.
“The injury severity is just getting worse and worse, whether that's kids just wrecking the bike itself or several of them who are the worst injured are hit by cars. It just leads to really severe injuries, and some of them have not been survivable," said Dr. Hassan Mir, an Orthopedic trauma surgeon in Tampa.
Lynch believes everyone needs to practice safety while riding.
“I underscore the importance of helmets. Connor's injury was the handlebars to his chest, so be seen," she said. "Make sure you're wearing bright colors. Make sure you're using your lights on your scooter to make sure that other cars can see you. Because just 5 seconds is all it would have taken either way of that car turning in front of Connor, and he would still be here.”
Other potential restrictions under this ordinance include participating in street takeovers with e-bikes or e-scooters, stunt riding or doing wheelies, towing another rider, or having more than two people ride side by side unless on a bike path.
Penalties for breaking the rules would include warnings, citations, notices of violation, or even fines and jail time.
The ordinance must first be adopted by commissioners Wednesday before it could move forward. If it does, the public would have the chance to weigh in on these potential changes at a meeting on November 10. The city of Tampa is also taking up this issue at a workshop Thursday.
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