St. Johns County leaders are considering how to regulate e-bikes in the county after two middle school students were hurt in separate e-bike crashes.
Attorney Rich Komando presented his proposed draft ordinance to county commissioners.
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But the county leaders had more questions about some of the items in the draft proposal.
The amended e-bike ordinance would do some things like:
- Ban people younger than 14 from riding the e-bikes
- Require those under 18 to wear helmets when operating the e-bikes
- And require e-bikes to go no more than 10 mph on a sidewalk
Some of the Commissioners argued that some points of the proposed draft items, like wearing a helmet while operating the bikes, are already law by state statute, though.
“I don’t think having a draft for e-bikes is a bad thing, but what I would love to do is workshops,” Commissioner Clay Murphy said.
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Murphy and some other county leaders on the board said that they would rather see more education around the e-bikes instead of more redundant laws.
Other leaders like Commissioner Sarah Arnold believe that a draft ordinance would do no good without the accountability and collaboration of parents.
“It does come to being a parenting issue. And as a parent of four, I can say that. And when my kids screw up on their motorized vehicles they lose the keys,” she said.
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In the end, county leaders decided on a resolution in the case of an amended e-bike ordinance.
The county leaders will likely revisit this conversation.
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