The Santa Ana City Council has unanimously approved a new e-bike safety ordinance, making the city the latest in Orange County to tighten regulations in response to a surge in crashes, injuries, fatalities, and criminal investigations involving electric bicycles and high-powered electric motorcycles.
The ordinance prohibits riding e-bikes in playgrounds, establishes speed restrictions, authorizes police to cite parents of minors who ride recklessly, and gives officers authority to temporarily confiscate or impound e-bikes in certain situations. City officials said the measure is designed to improve safety rather than discourage the use of e-bikes as transportation.
The unanimous vote was surprising as usually the anti-police City Council Members (Jessie Lopez, Johnathan Hernandez and Ben Vazquez) vote against any attempts to support law enforcement. This may be a political move as Lopez is currently running for the State Assembly and Vazquez is up for reelection in November…