Due to improper e-bike use, Newbury Park’s Dos Vientos Community Park and Borchard Community Park have racked up around $50,000 in damages and are in need of repairs, according to the Thousand Oaks Acorn. The Thousand Oaks Police Department [TOPD] is taking action by issuing citations and towing illegal e-motorcycles on the road.
Joseph Reyes, school resource officer of Thousand Oaks, does not have a strict opinion for or against e-bikes, but views the biggest effect of dangerous e-bike use as the safety of our community. “I enjoy that kids are getting outside and getting away from tablets, but I’m sure as you heard, I think a couple months ago, in the city of Simi Valley, a kid was hit on his e-bike in the middle of an intersection…So I think the biggest impact is people riding e-bikes being not responsible, and then causing themselves or others to potentially become in harm’s way,” Reyes said.
The TOPD and the Conejo Unified Valley School District [CVUSD] have worked on media campaigns over the past seven months to educate the public about the dangers of e-bikes and e-motorcycles. A bike rodeo and e-bike safety event was hosted at Redwood Middle School on Jan. 24, where students and families were able to ride pedal bikes through an obstacle course, visit bike safety booths, learn about the different classes of e-bikes and meet local public safety partners.
Despite community members having spread awareness about e-bikes and e-motorcycles, accidents have still been occurring in recent events. According to the Safety for Citizens Facebook page, two e-bikers were rushed to the hospital after crashing with a vehicle in Thousand Oaks on April 15. Furthermore, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for fleeing the scene after hitting an 81-year-old man with his Surron e-motorcycle in Orange County on April 16, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Reyes believes one of the reasons for this behavior among teens is due to social media, the internet and YouTube videos. “[Social media is] so easily accessible to us now that when people find a hobby or a niche or whatever it is that they are interested in or enjoy, they’ve got the world in the palm of their hand at their phone, and they can start researching and looking up that stuff. And so because it’s so easily accessible, I think that inspires and motivates others to kind of recreate or try to kind of follow in that path,” Reyes said.
Although Reyes does not think there is any way of completely solving the issues of hazardous e-bike and e-motorcycle activity in our community, he sees community partnerships as a mode of mediation and progress. “It’s a really new thing for us in law enforcement being able to tackle these challenges accordingly. The laws are always changing. They’re always progressing…So I think it’s just kind of a community partnership and spreading knowledge from a law enforcement standpoint to members of the community and trying to engage and have those proactive relationships and conversations to educate to the best of our ability,” Reyes said.
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