On April 16, a 14-year-old performing wheelies on an electric motorcycle (not a standard e-bike) struck an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran in Los Angeles. The victim remains in critical condition. On Easter weekend, a 10-year-old in DC riding an e-bike in a bike lane without a helmet was hit by an ATV. The ATV rider has not been found. The mother thought her child would be safe in the bike lane. Her son suffered brain injury. On April 24, Montgomery County police arrested a 13‑year‑old for riding an unregistered dirt bike without a license through busy streets in downtown Bethesda, in gangs imitating scenes in DC neighborhoods like the Navy Yard and U St NW, scenes that have come to be known as ‘teen takeovers.’ Councilmember Zachary Parker will hold a public Roundtable Thursday, April 30, to discuss ‘alternatives to teen takeovers.’
How did we get here?
The DC Council and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) have been promoting and subsidizing e-bikes with bike lanes, rebates and pilot programs that give e-bikes to participants. With no thought to precautions, limitations or safeguards, we have created hellish scenes where youth feel entitled to play recklessly in the street. A few years ago, the Council passed a law called the ‘Safe Bike Stop,’ scandalously permitting bikers to run stop signs. Clearly, it is not a ‘stop’ and patently, it is not safe. Last year the Council, under the leadership of Councilmember Charles Allen, authorized $1M in rebates for e-bikes because bike lanes are little used. Daily 700,000 DC residents show they are not interested in biking enough to justify a dangerous transformation of DC traffic. Road diets and bike lanes touted as making streets safer are putting us all in jeopardy.
What we must do
DC Safe Streets Coalition proposes one measure to help bring order back into the streets, namely the regulation of e-bikes, including registration and tags, just like motorcycles, so bikers can be identified and held accountable, including also licensing, insurance, certification and speed limits. If bikers were required to register their bikes, if they knew they could be caught, if they had to pass a rider’s test, their behavior would change for the better, with minimal intervention from MPD.
In this election year our Coalition urges the Council to introduce an E-Bike Bill. We have begun a petition to regulate e-bikes and urge DC residents to review and sign it, here. Our goal is 1,000 by April 30. https://c.org/GVFzcRN8kP
Nick DelleDonne
DC Safe Streets Coalition
Dupont East Civic Action Association
703 929 6656
4-27-26