Jupiter police crack down on e-bike rule violators

JUPITER, Fla. – Jupiter Police are on the lookout for e-bike/e-moto riders violating traffic laws this summer.

“We will do everything we can to ensure the safety of the children,” said Jupiter Police Chief David England.

In April, he announced the launch of an e-bike safety campaign after saying police had seen more electric bikes in the past year than ever before.

On Tuesday, residents spoke about their experiences with e-bike riders during Jupiter’s city council meeting.

“These individuals surround the vehicles, do wheelies, touch the car, tamper with the mirrors and do certain things to elicit a reaction,” a resident said at a public hearing.

Another Jupiter resident named Robert Jaegers spoke to our WPTV reporter Joel Lopez outside the meeting about what he saw on the streets.

“I see them everywhere and they move very fast and very stealthily,” Jaegers said. “If it’s a child, it’s usually in groups. They don’t wear highly visible clothing and they don’t usually wear helmets.”

In April, Lopez reported on a 12-year-old who had an accident on his e-bike and said his helmet saved his life.

That same month, residents approached Lopez asking about ways to protect both motorcyclists and motorists on the roads.

According to Chief England, the biggest offenders are middle school students from the Abacoa area who are expected to be on the streets this summer.

During an interview in April, Lopez asked questions of a concerned resident, Tiffany Higley.

“Are you against children having these tools?” Lopez asked.

“No, absolutely not, and I’m not saying we should ban them by all means,” Higley said. “I just think we should be a lot safer with them.”

Since the department launched the bike safety campaign, 32 e-bike traffic enforcement actions were conducted in the first 30 days (mid-April to mid-May), according to Police Chief England, of which 30 were warnings and 2 were tickets.

“Are you still getting a lot of these calls from residents now in June?” Lopez asked.

“We are receiving complaints, but not as many as we should have otherwise received. So we believe we are making progress,” England said. “We will continue the process. It is going very well, as I said. We are seeing improvements, we are seeing the number of violations going down.”

England said one problem they have observed is people modifying the e-bikes and e-motorcycles and rigging them so that they can reach speeds of over 60 miles per hour.

“If the victim is not wearing a bicycle helmet, it can be $30 to $40. If they disregard a stop sign or a red light, it can be well over $150. If they do a wheelie on the road, it can be up to a thousand dollars,” England said.

Currently, Jupiter Police are still focusing on education, but have announced stricter enforcement.

England said they are also working to educate parents.

He said there has not been a single e-bike accident since the campaign started in April.