Santa Barbara City Council Responds to Grand Jury E-Bike report
Tracy Lehr
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City Council responded to a Santa Barbara County Grand Jury’s 15 page report entitled “E-Bikes In Santa Barbara: What Will It Take to Make Them Safe?”
The report was issued in June and required a response within 90 days.
Councilmembers agreed with their staff recommendation to send a letter from Mayor Randy Rowse to the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury and Presiding Judge Patricia Kelly.
The Grand Jury took up the issue following social media posts about collisions and injuries the underscored complaints.
Most of the injuries tallies by the Grand Jury were the riders, but passengers and pedestrians have been hurt.
The numbers may be under-reported depending on whether officers are called to an accident.
The report stated the proliferation of e-bikes gave the issue a sense of urgency.
Santa Barbara city and council has paths for cyclists that now share the road with the faster moving e-bikes.
The reports recommended police focus on high-traffic areas that will achieve high visibility by Dec. 1.
The city council agreed that education, enforcement and community collaboration are essential to e-bike safety.
The city has already adopted an e-bike ordinance giving officers discretion while responding to unsafe behavior.
Officers recenty towed a so-called ‘pocket bike’ that was not street legal.
Following the Santa Barbara City Council meeting Mayor Rowse talking about enforcement.
“There are a zillion ideas but ordinances don’t always solve a problem because you can say these are the rules, but if you don’t enforce them what have you done, so the enforcement piece is really important.”
Rowse has witnessed the increase in e-bike riders locally.
“The e-bike thing really blew up out of almost nowhere, it went from as few to now everybody’s got them and they are faster than they are supposed to be, ans all that kind of stuff, so we are still wrestling with the problem for now,” said Rowse, “but we had to respond to the grand jury and at least say we are working on things which we are and working on methods of enforcement or citation or perhaps even confiscation.”
The mayor shared an anecdote saying he was almost struck by an e-bike during an interview about the issue with News Channel reporter John Palminteri, not far from city hall.
At the farmers market on Tuesday e-bike riders and cyclists appeared to be on their best behavior.
People could see them walking their e-bikes on the sidewalk and riding them in areas where pedestrians were not in their path.
The city said the police department will be strategically deploying officers and will be giving the council quarterly reports.
The city has already implemented or parcially implemented some of the Grand Jury suggestions.
In conclusion, the city thanked the Grand Jury and said it “remains committed to supporting the safe integration of e-bikes into our transportation system.”
The city plans to share reports with the Santa Barbara Fire and Police Commission and share submitted reports on its website at https://docs.santabarbaraca.gov
The Santa Barbara City Council’s response will be posted on the grand jury’s website at https://sbcgj.org
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