Irvine is slated to join a growing list of Orange County cities cracking down on reckless e-bike riding.

[Read: Cracking Down E-bikes: Orange County’s Battle for Safer Roads]

City officials are considering tightening ordinances for e-bikes and scooters to prevent collisions — including more responsibility for parents through citations and fines and updated speed limits on sidewalks and trails.

Violations could soon be classified as misdemeanors and reckless riders could face $500 fines after multiple violations.

Last week, city council members voted 6-1 to introduce updated rules aimed at curbing reckless e-bike riding on roadways, sidewalks and local bike paths.

Councilmember Mike Carroll voted no because part of the rules included establishing speed limits for sidewalks, which he said he disagreed with.

It comes as cities across Orange County take a closer look at how to keep e-bike riders safe on the road and state leaders look to address the issue up and down California. 

[Read: More Orange County Cities Grapple With E-bike Regulations, Youth Safety]

Irvine’s vote preliminarily approved a host of changes regarding electric bicycles and scooters. A second vote at a future meeting is required in order for the changes to go into effect.

Changes include: prohibiting e-bike modifications to make them ride faster, establishing updated speed limits for e-bikes, allowing city police officers to impound e-bikes and increasing parental accountability for allowing their children to violate e-bike rules. 

“This has been long-awaited,” Councilmember Melinda Liu said at the meeting. “We get so many emails and meeting requests about this issue all the time.”

Officers will be able to impound e-bikes if the rider is found violating updated rules.

Shaheen Jahangard, lieutenant with Irvine Police Department’s traffic bureau, said officers will take a variety of factors into consideration before deciding to impound an e-bike.

“Discretion is going to depend on the circumstances of the situation — how compliant the juvenile is when they’re being detained or stopped for the violation, what the violation is, how egregious is it, are their parents or guardian able to respond to pick up their electric bicycle,” he said. “There’s a lot of factors the officers will take into consideration before impounding an e-bike.”

Updated rules also allow officers to hold parents accountable if they knowingly allow their children to ride an illegal e-bike or another electric bicycle or scooter in an unsafe or illegal manner.

Jason Scheafer, motor training officer with the Irvine Police Department, emphasized that officers will also take into consideration that sometimes kids don’t listen to their parents.

“Especially when you start talking about the off-highway, electric motorcycles — especially when parents are continually allowing their children to ride these even though they know they’re illegal,” he said, “when we can establish that there is some kind of knowledge that goes beyond a young person not listening to their parents in the moment, those are the standards we’re going to be using for this kind of enforcement.”

Violations would be classified as an infraction unless officers investigate and deem a misdemeanor charge is appropriate, according to the staff report included with the city council meeting agenda. Violations could also include fines up to $500 after multiple infractions.

Juvenile offenders could also be issued as an administrative citation subject to appearance at a traffic safety course.

A cyclist using the Jeffrey Open Space Trail at Trabuco Road on March 13, 2025. Credit: FASHION CASTILLO, Voice of OC

The updates would also establish a 20 mph speed limit on bicycle paths and trails and a 10 mph speed limit for bicycles on sidewalks. However, if children are present in a school zone, bicycle speed limits would drop to 5 mph on public sidewalks.

Jahangard said that over the last three years, about 70% of the city’s bicycle collisions involved a juvenile rider. Of those collisions, about 65% involved an e-bike.

He also said that the 13- to 16-year-old age range is involved with 53% of all bicycle collisions. Of those, Jahangard said 69% involve an e-bike.

Marry Larry Agran said the updated ordinances could help reverse some of those statistics. 

“It sounds to me like this language gives you the opportunity to see to it that these incidents are cited when there’s an e-bike creating a dangerous situation.” 

Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.