OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) – Plenty of people love to pedal they’re around San Diego County. But more e-bikes are on the road and, sadly, more crashes.
The Oceanside Police Department is trying to cut down on reckless riding, with the hope that the City Council will pass new enforcement rules.
“We're not anti e-bike. But we do want kids and adults who choose to ride e-bikes to ride them safely,” Captain Scott Garrett of the Oceanside Police Department said.
That’s the bottom line coming from police in the North County community.
“So over the past 5 or 6 years we've steadily seen an increase in e-bike related calls for service,” Garrett said.
Oceanside PD is reporting those calls for service relating to e-bikes jumped from 185 in 2022 to 341 in 2023, 449 in 2024 and 2025’s projecting to end with 844 calls.
Nationally, a 2023 report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows there were estimated 53,200 emergency department visits due to e-bikes from 2017 through 2022.
“We want to see that number go down and we also want to see our collisions go down. We ultimately want to provide a safe environment for riders and for the public at large,” Garrett said.
Oceanside Police are presenting an amendment to the ordinance to the City’s e-bike enforcement code to the City Council on Wednesday.
“The primary focus of this amendment is to include temporary seizure of e-bikes and to expressly prohibit double riding,” Garrett said. “Things like going way above the speed limit, weaving in and out of traffic, or any type of operation that negatively affects the safety of pedestrians or the rider."
If this amended ordinance is passed and you get stopped on an e-bike, you’ll be given a pamphlet. It’ll explain general e-bike safety, what’s now in effect, why your bike’s getting seized, and how you can get it back.
“So in essence, if the officer chooses, they would issue that person a citation. And in order to remedy the citation, they can attend the course, they can go pay a court fine, or they can argue their case in court,” Garrett said. “We're not forcing an offender to take any route, but we do want to encourage our youth, particularly to get educated on the rules of the road.”
The safety courses for those who are issued a citation do not have to be completed in Oceanside, according to Garrett. People are able to complete them in other cities or with other departments as long as they have documentation showing they completed the course.
“We don't want to be strictly an enforcement piece; we want to be an educational piece and provide opportunities for riders, drivers, and pedestrians to be safe,” Garrett said.
If the amended ordinance were approved, it would go into effect 30 days after the vote.
