LA MESA, Calif. (KGTV) — La Mesa has reaffirmed its ban on children under 12 riding e-bikes, but the vote has renewed debate over whether the policy actually addresses the root cause of safety concerns on the city’s streets.
The City Council’s vote Tuesday mirrored the outcome of a unanimous decision passed in mid-April — with only one councilmember — Laura Lothian — changing her position.
The ban aligns La Mesa with several other San Diego County cities that have adopted similar ordinances under the San Diego Electric Bicycle Safety Pilot Program laid out in Assembly Bill No. 2234, allowing any city in the county to prohibit riders under 12 from operating a Class 1 or 2 e-bike, which can up to 20 miles per hour.
For some La Mesa families, the ban hits close to home.
“Kind of makes me feel sad and mad and upset,” said 10-year-old Charlie Knight.
Charlie and her family had used e-bikes as a way to spend time together in a city that prides itself on being bike friendly.
“It was something we could do together as a family that, we can’t do anymore,” Cassie said.
After the ban first passed in mid-April, Cassie, her husband Deric, and other residents urged the council to reconsider — arguing the ordinance targets age rather than the actual problem: reckless rider behavior.
“Nothing’s gonna change with the wheelies and the reckless driving because there’s already laws for that. They would have stopped that if that was the problem,” Deric said.
Not all residents share that view. La Mesa resident Stacey Turner said she supports the age restriction.
“I feel like we need to protect them until they’re, you know, a little more mature and able to take on this danger. I think this is dangerous,” Turner said.
Those concerns from families like the Knights were enough to change the mind of Councilmember Laura Lothian, the one vote that shifted from the first decision.
“We realized that we had a problem with teenagers and e-bikes, and the solution wasn’t addressing the problem,” Lothian told ABC 10News in an interview ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. “I’m feeling like 9-, 10- and 11-year-olds are being scapegoats for the 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds that are actually doing the reckless riding.”
La Mesa police have reportedly responded to more than 50 e-bike-related calls. Despite that volume, enforcement has been minimal — Lothian said the police chief told her the city has only ever issued 3 e-bike citations, none of them to children under 12.
Cassie said she remains skeptical about whether the ban will prove effective.
“It will be very interesting to see what data we actually collect to see if this is effective at all,” Cassie said.
Because the vehicle code is set at the state level, the council cannot change the language of the ordinance itself (as in, increasing the minimum age, for example).
Councilmembers did, however, promise to consider additional measures to address safety concerns, including increased enforcement targeting reckless riding and expanding bike lanes near schools.
In response, the city manager said, “We’ll do what we can.”
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