Less than two months after a 15-year old from Bend was killed in a traffic collision while riding an electric bike, a state lawmaker wants to change Oregon’s e-bike laws in the coming legislative session.
Emerson Levy, a Democrat who represents House District 53, told an electric bike advocacy group about her proposal Thursday morning. “Our laws haven’t caught up with the modern day,” Levy said shared at an online meeting of Electric Bikes For All, an informal working group convened Forth, a statewide electric vehicle nonprofit.
Levy is still formulating specific bill language, but so far the outline includes:
- updating Oregon to the three class system recently adopted by the Biden Administration as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Oregon is one of 13 states that don’t use the Class 1 (20 mph with no throttle), Class 2 (20 mph with throttle), and Class 3 (28 mph max without throttle) system to regulate e-bikes;
- remove the current age restriction (of 16 years) for riding e-bikes, but maintain a minimum age of 16 to use an e-bike with a throttle;
- and require helmets for all e-bike riders regardless of age.
“If we don’t address it quickly, we’ll get to the point where community attitudes will shift very quickly to ‘Just ban them all.'”
– Emerson Levy, Oregon House Rep
Use of throttles is especially problematic, Levy said, because many young Bend residents ride “souped-up” e-bikes with aftermarket throttles. She said Bend police stopped a young person going 70 mph last week.
At the meeting, Rep. Levy painted a picture of Bend residents who are outraged at the dangerous e-biking behaviors they see from teens and said her constituents are desperate for action after the tragic crash that killed a teen on June 17th. “I would say that we’re at a point where this is an emergency,” Levy shared.
Rep. Levy acknowledged that legal changes are just one part of the issue and that infrastructure and education are just as important. From her perspective as a lawmaker, something must be done quickly to quell local fervor around how many teens are riding e-bikes in a way some perceive as dangerous.
“It is a difficult space to be in,” she continued. “Because I really want kids to have the freedom to be on bikes, but the situation we have right now is quite unsafe… if we don’t address it quickly, we’ll get to the point where community attitudes will shift very quickly to ‘Just ban them all,’ so that’s why I’m trying to step in right now.
Responses to Levy’s ideas at the meeting were mixed, with several people expressing concern that the attempt to regulate e-bikes in this way was misplaced and could lead to unintended consequences.
Neil Baunsgard, an advocate with a Bend-based environmental nonprofit, said he was concerned about limiting e-bikes with throttles because they tend to be much cheaper than bikes without throttles. “Because most pedal-assist bikes are mid-drive [motors], they’re at least twice as expensive as a pedal assist bikes that have a throttle option,” he said. “So the concern that I have… is that it might lead to just gatekeeping the affordable e-bikes.”
Portland State University researcher and noted e-bike policy expert John MacArthur said, “What are we trying to solve here? What is it about a throttle that we think is so much more dangerous?” MacArthur pointed out that a 15-year-old could go very fast on a non-electric bike. “I understand there are concerns. I’m a parent too…. And in some low-income communities will this be another reason for the police officers to go chase down young people of color?… Is an age restriction what the real issue is?”
When it comes to a mandatory helmet law for e-bike users, MacArthur was clearly worried that it could be a slippery slope where lawmakers will try to apply it to all bikes. He also cited how helmet requirements impact bike share systems like Portland’s Biketown. “Cities that have required helmets for bike share fail. Seattle had that and they pulled it back. In Vancouver, BC you have to carry a helmet around or you will get fined.”
In an email follow-up after the meeting, Rep. Levy said she, “Most likely have to give up the helmets [provision of the bill], but I still think it’s important to have the conversation about head trauma on the legislative record.”
Sarah Iannarone, executive director of The Street Trust, encouraged Rep. Levy to explore other avenues to improve e-bike safety. She said Oregon should have e-bike related question on the driver’s test (to which Rep. Levy said ODOT is already amenable to) and that “infrastructure is key.”
“We really need to harden up the infrastructure for people using these light individual mobility devices,” Iannarone continued. “And that is going to be critical for youth. Youth who are not driving are more likely to stay alive. The youth who are dying in Portland are dying in motor vehicle crashes. So if we can get these young people riding transit, riding their bikes, rather than even having to adopt driver’s license to begin with, I think we’re ahead of the curve.”
A different perspective was offered by Forth Senior Policy Manager Shannon Walton-Clark. They were supportive of Levy’s ideas and urged the group to consider the political environment in Salem as talks ramp up for a major transportation funding package in 2025. Rep Levy’s proposal should be seen as a seen, in large part, as a “signal that work is being done,” they said. “If communities are not seeing things done about issues that from their perspective are the most important,” Walton-Clark continued, “It is gonna be much harder to convince those communities that infrastructure to support things like e-bikes is wanted and needed. And it’s going to be a lot harder at the legislative level to fight for infrastructure — specifically to protect things like e-bikes — if the narrative is, ‘E-bikes are unsafe, why are we subsidizing them? Why are we supporting them?'”
Walton-Clark’s view struck me as being very similar to the rationale that led to lawmakers passing a $15 tax on new bicycles as part of the 2017 transportation funding package. That tax was pitched as a way for cycling advocates to earn respect and “have some skin in the game” that would lead to more favorable funding and support in future years; none of which has materialized.
This conversation about how — or if — to further regulate e-bikes in light of their immense popularity (especially among teens) is just getting started. Draft bill language for the 2024 session is due in November and Rep. Levy says she’s open to feedback and input. You can contact her via her State Legislature page or at Rep.EmersonLevy@oregonlegislature.gov.