MARTIN COUNTY — The Sheriff’s Office has begun efforts to educate the public about electric bikes, after two crashes happened in one weekend, in an attempt to prevent future incidents.
The first crash was around 10:30 a.m. on June 20 at South Kanner Highway and Southwest South River Drive, according to sheriff’s Lt. David Rosko. He said the electric bike was moving on the sidewalk, turned into the crosswalk of the intersection, and the car driver hit the side of the bike with the front of the car. No one was injured.
The second crash was around 10 a.m. on June 22 at Southwest 35th Street and Southwest Mapp Road in Palm City. A car pulled up to a stop sign while the electric bike was moving on the sidewalk and the bike ended up crashing into the side of the car.
Rosko said in the second crash, the car was cited and the man on the electric bike was flown by helicopter to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce because he was not wearing a helmet and it was unknown if he had any head injuries.
He said the Martin County Sheriff’s Office is seeing more crashes involving electric bikes as they become more popular. Deputies have been educated on common violations and what to look for.
Electric bike riders can be pulled over and receive a citation if they commit a traffic infraction. Rosko said that is not the main goal of deputies, but if it is deemed necessary, they will do it.
He said there are three classes for electric bikes that depend on the speed the bikes can reach. He said regardless of the class, an electric bike must have functioning pedals, or it does not fall into the category of an electric bike.
Class One can go up to 20 mph and requires the cyclist to pedal. Class Two also only goes up to 20 mph, but it has a throttle. Class Three goes up to 28 mph and has 750 watts or less. He said anything that exceeds a Class Three, falls under a motor vehicle.
“A lot of people think ‘I can buy my kid this electric bike’ which turns out to actually be an electric dirt bike, which falls under the parameters of a motorcycle,” Rosko said.
He said if someone is riding an electric bike to be aware of the area because sometimes riding on the sidewalk is not always ideal and other times riding in the road is not always ideal.
“A lot of bicycle riders think they can transition back and forth and because they are a bike rider they don’t have to stop at a red light, they can just blow right through it,” Rosko said.
He said the Sheriff’s Office is planning to hand out educational pamphlets to the public about how to safely ride electric bikes.
“A lot of times we see these e-bikes near schools. It’s younger kids,” Rosko said. “So it’s something we can hand out to them that they can breeze through and know what they can do safely and what they can’t do.”
Olivia Franklin is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Olivia on X @Livvvvv_5 or reach her by phone at 317-627-8048. E-mail her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Martin County deputies to start educating community about electric bikes after 2 crashes
Reporting by Olivia Franklin, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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