Anaheim City Council members are publicly questioning if it’s time to overhaul their rules on e-bikes and whether police officers should take a different approach to enforcement amid a spike in electric bicycle related injuries since 2024.
It comes as city officials throughout OC have been overhauling local laws aimed at addressing unsafe e-bike riders in effort to curb a worsening trend of deaths, injuries and felonies related to reckless e-bike riding in the region.
In an update on their regulations approved in 2024, Anaheim police officials last week told city council members they have been focused primarily on educating kids and their families on e-bike safety, with Police Chief Manny Cid saying the department has given out about or less than a dozen tickets in the last couple of years.
At the same time, Cid said e-bike related accidents in the city went from two in 2024 to 16 in 2025 to 38 in 2026 so far.
Anaheim City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava, who is running for reelection, said she prefers to avoid citing kids and families, but noted it’s a public safety issue they need to get a grip on quickly and called on the police department to track the warnings they give out.
“It’s life or death at this point and it’s not only the person on the e-bike, but also the person who hits them on an e-bike. That’s something they have to deal with,” she said at the Oct. 27 city council meeting.
“I just think there’s probably more that we can do as a city. I do appreciate the education front, but I think it’s something we need to do sooner than later at a larger scale and make it more significant.”
Last week’s update in Anaheim came on the heels of Santa Ana officials voting to implement their own ordinance banning e-bike riding on playgrounds, implementing speed limits and allowing parents to be cited as well as e-bikes to be impounded.
On election night Tuesday, Lake Forest City Council members are expected to consider an ordinance to allow OC Sheriff deputies to impound e-bikes from kids riding them on restricted areas like playgrounds or riding e-bikes that can go 28 miles per hour.
Officials there are also considering an agreement with a towing company to tow impounded e-bikes that city officials say won’t require tax dollars but instead will have the e-bike owners pay the cost for the tow directly to the company.
Will Anaheim Adjust Their Approach to E-bikes?
Anaheim Police Chief Cid said there needs to be a balance between citations and education.
“If we go enforcement heavy, I suspect that that’s going to come with its own challenges and we’re going to have, I’m going to say, parents that we want to be partners with us and collaborating in addressing this issue start to feel like we’re attacking their kid for riding their bike to school,” he said at the Oct. 27 meeting
“We’ll continue to assess it, make every effort that we can to find a good balance, and that probably means some increased enforcement and still try to keep that in balance with what we’re doing on the education side.”
Councilman Carlos Leon, who is running for reelection unopposed, questioned if the department had set a range or threshold of the number of collisions that would have to occur before they would take a stricter approach to enforcement.
Cid said they will be monitoring to see if the trends for accidents continue and will come back to the council members if there is a continued uptick.
Mayor Ashleigh Aitken suggested requiring kids under 16-year-olds to take a safety course on the bike and possibly get a permit to use them – something police officials said they were working with school districts on.
Aitken is running for reelection amid allegations of drinking at government functions as well as calling her Chief of Staff Berenice Ballinas a “dirty mexican” and constantly questioning her about her perceived sexuality.
The mayor has admitted to struggling with alcoholism and going to rehab while denying hurling racist and homophobic slurs. The city has hired outside investigators to launch a probe into the allegations.
Councilwoman Natalie Meeks, who is running for reelection unopposed, said the education approach has been successful in Anaheim Hills – the area she represents.
“I am not anti e-bike. I’m anti e-motorcycle on our streets because those are super dangerous. But we have to teach responsibility. We have to teach the laws,” she said.
Rubalcava said police should take a more proactive approach to education elsewhere in the city and e-bikes were extremely dangerous.
“My kids are not allowed to use an e-bike. I’m sure they do when I’m not there, but they are not allowed to because they’re just so dangerous,” she said. “I am one of those parents who gets afraid that my kids can get killed by an e-bike.”
Editor’s note: Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken’s father, Wylie Aitken, chairs Voice of OC’s board of directors.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
