{"id":790109,"date":"2026-05-12T02:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T02:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790109\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T02:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T02:41:33","slug":"la-mesa-considers-e-bike-ban-for-children-under-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790109\/","title":{"rendered":"La Mesa considers e-bike ban for children under 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

The debate centers on safety concerns and parental rights ahead of the city council vote.<\/p>\n

LA MESA, Calif. \u2014 City leaders in La Mesa are set to vote Tuesday on a proposal\u00a0<\/a>that would ban children under 12 from riding certain e-bikes, sparking a heated debate over safety and government overreach.<\/p>\n

Supporters say the rule is intended to reduce crashes and protect young riders as e-bike use continues to grow across San Diego County.<\/p>\n


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\u201cThis pilot program prohibits children under the age of 12 from being able to operate a Class 1 and a Class 2 e-bike,\u201d said La Mesa Councilmember Laura Lothian.<\/p>\n

Lothian, who initially supported the ordinance during its first reading last month, now says she has changed her position after hearing from families who rely on e-bikes for transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have families who moved here so their families could travel to the village and have breakfast, go to the farmer\u2019s market, and they\u2019re with their 9 and 10-year-old and they\u2019re on these little e-bikes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the proposal point to rising injury numbers across the region. Rady Children\u2019s Hospital reported just three e-bike-related injuries in 2021, compared to 262 last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese bikes are dangerous and we want to make sure kids have the proper judgment, the reaction time and reflexes to drive these e-bikes in traffic,\u201d said Councilmember Genevieve Suzuki.<\/p>\n

Suzuki also referenced recent serious crashes involving young riders, including a 12-year-old boy who suffered life-threatening injuries in an e-bike collision in Carmel Valley earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese children then require emergency care and it could be orthopedic, it could be traumatic brain injury, and we just don\u2019t want that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Opponents, however, argue the proposal goes too far. They say reckless riding behavior among older teens is the real problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that a blanket ban is the wrong way to approach the problem,\u201d said La Mesa Planning Commissioner Jerry Jones.<\/p>\n

Jones, an avid e-bike rider with young kids of his own, said many e-bikes can be programmed for lower speeds and argued enforcement should focus on unsafe riding rather than age restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wheelies, it\u2019s following too close, it\u2019s riding the wrong way on the road, things that are against the rules on a regular bike already,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If approved, the pilot program would begin with a 60-day warning period before $25 fines are issued. The rules would remain in place through January 2029.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The debate centers on safety concerns and parental rights ahead of the city council vote. LA MESA, Calif.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":790110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-790109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116559301970061078","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}