The Brief
- St. Petersburg Police say in the past month, there have been seven traffic fatalities and almost half have been e-bikes.
- There were at least two other e-bike crashes in Pinellas in the past week.
- Officials express concern there is no age limit and e-bikers don’t always follow the rules of the road.
ST PETERSBURG, Fla. – Law enforcement says they’ve seen a spike in e-bike crashes across the area lately.
The backstory:
Deputies in Pinellas County are investigating an e-bike crash that left a 67-year-old man with life-threatening injuries. Investigators say the man riding the e-bike didn’t stop at a stop sign and collided with a truck in Dunedin Tuesday. This crash unfortunately isn’t alone. Officials say the number of e-bike crashes continues to go up across the Bay Area.
“Unfortunately, in the past month, we’ve had seven fatalities and half of them have been e-bikes,” said Lieutenant Jason Levey of St. Petersburg Police’s traffic section says, “Almost half of them have been e-bikes.”
Lt. Levey said out of the seven traffic fatalities in the past month, three have involved e-bikes. He said in those three recent crashes, investigators found the e-bike riders at fault.…