Other Communities (Ocean City, Jackson Hole) Grapple with e-Bike Explosion in Use
November 17, 2022
At the bottom are urls to these 4 articles:
1. Ocean City allowing Class 1 e-bikes on boardwalk.
2. Jackson’s Young Riders’ e-Bike Safety Challenges leads to ticketing Middle Schoolers
3. “Let’s Work Together on Youth e-bike Safety” by Katherine Dowson
4. Drivers/Business Owners tolerate/begrudge Bollards (see photo)
Snippets from the Jackson Article…
a. Town councilors voted unanimously Monday to create a 15 mph speed limit on pathways add signage throughout pathways, and implement “chicane” gates to create “slow zones” for riders in high-traffic areas like ballfields. The gates slow traffic by forcing riders to go through a serpentine turn. The infrastructure items, such as the additional signage and the chicane gates, “have the highest upfront costs.” One foundation so far expressed interest in providing funding.
b. e-bikes had already been purchased by the Jackson police department, and they would be outfitted with speed-detecting radar guns.
f. Not approved by Councilors: a required age limit to carry passengers, or mandatory dismount zones.
g. Much of the discussion focused on middle schoolers. A staff report identified middle school kids as the “primary target audience,” adding in the report that one of the “most common areas of complaint received by the Pathways office is in regards to middle school-aged kids on e-bikes.”
h. Council members approved recommendations that the middle school bike safety program be hired out to a third party, as well as developing education for bike shops, such as a mandatory short video or bike etiquette questionnaire for folks renting or purchasing a bike.
i. Police Chief Michelle Weber said the e-bike permitting process has been in place since 2018. Anyone with a class one, two or three e-bike is required to get a permit for their bike within 30 days of purchasing. “They come in and fill out a form, and all the information is kept at the police department,” Police Chief Weber said.
j. Jackson Hole Middle School also requires a parking sticker. “In order to park your bike at the middle school, you have to complete the pathway safety course and successfully pass the test.”
k. Katherine Dowson, executive director of Friends of Pathways, said she’d like to see parents become more involved. “They need to wake up a bit. If they do have any bike that’s being used, they really need to sit down just as if it was a family car,” she said. “I had a mother say to me a couple of days ago, ‘My son has received four warnings for not stopping at the stop sign. Please give him a ticket.’”
1. https://www.oceancitytoday.com/news/low-class-e-bikes-officially-permitted-on-ocean-city-boardwalk/article_290c8cd0-611d-11ed-9639-8b0d7abda6c2.html
2. https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/cops_courts/councilors-approve-e-bike-regs/article_a6689d26-6c4e-529a-ba8f-662cbbe49652.html
3. https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/guest_shot/lets-work-together-on-youth-e-bike-safety/article_12abcf4a-ada9-598f-a985-2bf483ce1ac2.html
4. https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/town_county/bollards-stir-petition-to-bring-back-parking/article_692fd568-aae0-5f31-9661-775eb64b6943.html—
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