Towns back e-bike task force but want to watch state law proposals

Tiburon and Belvedere agree with a Marin civil grand jury that neither the county nor its cities have uniformly addressed safety issues caused by youth e-bike riders and that a countywide task force on regulation is a good idea. However, both municipalities say they want to wait on proposed state legislation before taking any local action.

The grand jury report, “With Power Comes Responsibility: Youths Under Age 16 Operating Class 2 E-Bikes — A Safety Risk,” was released April 26, which required responses from all 11 of Marin’s incorporated municipalities, plus the Board of Supervisors, by July 26.

The report found younger e-bike users are involved in an “increasing number of e-bike accidents” and are presenting “a public health and safety danger in Marin,” pointing to 10- to 15-year-old riders having an accident rate of 47 per 100,000 people between October 2023 and March 2024 — five times higher than any other age group, according to the county’s online bicycle-safety dashboard. That finding was something both local municipalities agreed with.

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