by Garth Meyer
A new plan to monitor and educate e-bike riders will start with community meetings held by Redondo Beach Police. The city council made the decision Dec. 5, choosing not to form an e-bike task force.
Police Chief Joe Hoffman gave input to the council along with Lt. Corey King and Captain Mario Fizulich, RBPD special operations.
“(We’re) encouraging responsible use of this increasingly prevalent mode of transportation,” said Fizulich, who advocated for a letter of support for State Assembly Bill AB 530. The potential new law would bar anyone under 12 from operating an e-bike, create a licensing program with mandatory photo ID and allocate money for e-bike traffic infrastructure.
A Redondo e-bike task force would have included representatives from the city manager’s office, community, Public Works, the school district and others.
City Manager Mike Witzansky noted that an alternative is to keep the RBPD leading the effort. City councilman Scott Behrendt spoke in favor of this option to avoid creating an “I’m on the task force, you’re not” dynamic.
“State regulation is needed, I believe, to address this issue,” Witzansky said.
Police Chief Hoffman talked about the value of public input.
“We haven’t thought of everything, but we’re willing to try anything, or at least consider it. We want to hear ideas from the public,” he said. “We cannot enforce our way out of this problem.”
Since fall 2022, the RBPD has conducted an education and enforcement effort for e-bikes, which has included a safety video, signboards, community engagement, social media, citations and warnings.
“It’s made a big difference,” Behrendt said.
Witzansky said that, considering what the city has learned in the past year, he did not see a task force as necessary as he may have thought a year ago.
Captain Fizulich said since April 2022, 19 e-bike and 21 regular bike accidents have been reported. In 2023, through November, 15 regular bike and 21 e-bike accidents were reported.
“One to two per month,” Hoffman said.
“Something we also need to focus on is, who’s buying these bikes? We need parents to parent their children,” Lt. King said. “… More education for parents on what they’re purchasing.”
“And the businesses selling them, as well,” Hoffman said.
The council voted 5-0 for the police to report back in six months on the e-bike meetings, and to give its immediate recommendations on a letter in support of AB530.
The Council vote included a request that the city attorney advocate for local courts to require e-bike safety classes for e-bike law violators.
In addition to the RBPD’s ongoing work, a new program is about to start in which officers stop e-bike riders when they are doing things right — such as wearing a helmet and stopping at stop signs. The police have 200 $5 gift cards to give out in an envelope with a QR code for the RBPD e-bike safety video. ER
