Teens riding e-bikes plug into trouble on Las Vegas Valley roads

E-bikes are becoming a growing traffic safety issue for Southern Nevada officials, as teens are recklessly riding the vehicles — some that can reach speeds of 50 mph or more — across the Las Vegas Valley.

Battery-powered scooters, bicycles and dirt bikes have become a popular way for teens to commute. Whether it’s to and from school or joy riding in their spare time, teens can be seen daily riding the two-wheel vehicles around the valley.

The problem has intensified over the last year, with e-dirt bike popularity surging, Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones said.

“There used to be one manufacturer — Surron. Now there’s multiple manufacturers,” Jones said. “If you are 14 years old and think you look cool on a dirt bike, parents might be more open to buying an e-dirt bike as opposed to a (traditional) dirt bike.”

While many teens obey traffic laws, a slew of others dart in and out of traffic, pop wheelies in the middle of the road, ride without wearing helmets and use area parks as their stunt tracks.

Crashes

Last year in the Metropolitan Police Department’s Enterprise Area Command, which includes Mountain’s Edge and Southern Highlands, 14 crashes involving e-bikes occurred, according to Capt. Johnathan Riddle. Those crashes include seven where the e-bike users were found not to be at fault, six in which riders were found to be at fault, and one whose cause was deemed undetermined.

The issue has become so bad that when Clark County announced on Facebook that it had received a grant to expand Mountain’s Edge Regional Park, comments flooded in from residents highlighting the dangers of e-bikes instead, Jones said.

Following the concerns raised in that social media post and residents complaining to police about teens filming themselves doing dangerous stunts at the park and in roadways in the community, Jones and the county held a meeting last month with residents, including area law enforcement officials.

“Those concerns led to what was expected to be a small meeting with a couple of parents, to be much larger, when county officials and authorities became involved, looking to address the e-motorcycle issues,” Jones said.

Henderson is noticing a similar issue with e-bikes. Teens are disobeying traffic laws on roads and causing damage to other areas.

Last year on Green Valley Parkway near Horizon Ridge Parkway, a teen was seriously injured in a crash while riding an e-dirt bike at night. In August, a fatal crash involving an e-scooter occurred on Broadbent Boulevard near Boulder Highway.

“Definitely an uptick in juveniles using them, especially, where large packs of these guys are running around and causing damage to our city parks,” Henderson Police Sgt. Richard Paul said, “in the grass fields and hitting sprinkler heads, so that’s certainly something that’s got our attention as well.”

Paul said the law essentially states that riders should not be riding an e-bike or e-scooter over 15 mph. With technology improving rapidly, the emergence of e-dirt bikes has created an issue on Henderson roads.

“Other manufacturers are coming out with these things that go upwards of 50 mph and even more and they’re operating on the roadways,” Paul said. “Those are considered electric motorcycles and not bicycle or scooter, which is governed by the law. So those things are designed to be operated as recreational vehicles, for off-road use only. Not on public roadways.”

Taking action

With electric dirt bikes causing most of the problems in Henderson, they’re drawing the most attention. Parents can be held culpable for allowing their kids to run the streets on these electric bikes, Paul said.

Initially Henderson police officers would approach the kids, who would stop when they were encountered, and tell them to get them off the roads. With the problem growing, they are about to take a different approach.

“We’re at the point where we’re going to start towing these things,” Paul said. “What I mean by that, we’re going to impound them and the parents will be liable for tow fees as well as a citation for operating an electric bike on a public roadway.”

In Clark County there’s no ordinance relating to e-bikes, so they fall under bicycle laws, which don’t really fit, since e-bikes have the ability to reach speeds much faster than a typical bicycle can, Jones said.

Clark County officials put together a memo from the Mountain’s Edge meeting. That memo is being used to propose an ordinance category for vehicle limitations pertaining to certain e-bikes, mainly the e-dirt bike variety, Jones said.

“We want to be careful that we’re not over-inclusive,” Jones said. “We don’t just want to ban e-bikes. They have positive benefits of getting seniors out of the house. But we want to make sure we address the e-dirt bikes and e-motorbikes.”

Riddle said Metro and the county are considering possibly adding aspects of Hawaii’s bicycle laws to their jurisdictions. Those additions would include looking at enforcing the wearing of helmets and policing bicyclists like any other vehicle on the road, requiring them to stop at traffic signals and stop signs and signaling their intention to turn.

After discussions with Metro, Jones said he realized the challenge is that e-motorcycles don’t fit into an existing statutory category. The county and others are having discussions regarding the drafting legislation to better define e-bikes.

“So, there is clarity in the law, when Metro or park police encounter them, they know how to cite someone,” Jones said.

Turning to schools and parents

Officials are also looking to area schools to help get the message out to parents, that there are safety issues with e-bikes, with the hope that parent intervention could help teens use safer riding habits.

Clark County is developing a memo that it will distribute to schools to outline the issues being seen with e-bikes and provide information to better educate faculty, staff and students about better riding practices.

Metro also wants to focus on parents as much as possible to spread educational awareness. Metro works with CCSD Police and schools to help identify students who flee. That way they can conduct follow-ups and ticket teens that way, since that will lead to the parents.

“Really what we want to do is provide the educational component here at Metro,” Riddle said. “We can talk to teenagers until we’re blue in the face and they sometimes continue to have that same disposition of ‘Hey, if something happens it’s probably not going to happen to me. Or ‘I’ll probably be OK.’ Whereas parents who are unaware of what’s going on with their kid, we can share some insight with them and some experiences of our own with these kids getting hurt and accidents.”

Henderson Police also are aiming to push their messages via schools, with a meeting with the school board set for 5 p.m. Feb. 19, at Miller Middle School in Henderson. Parents are invited to join the meeting, which will aim educate all in attendance about the dangers of e-dirt bikes.

“To be like, ‘Hey, you have students that are bringing these unauthorized electric dirt bikes to school and it needs to stop,’” Riddle said. “So, I think that might elicit some sort of policy changes within the school district, or individual schools, regarding kids riding these to school.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.