In an annual joint meeting on June 6 between the Laguna Beach Unified School District and city council, members of the Police Department reviewed recent advancements in electric bike—also known as “e-bikes”—safety for students traveling to school.
Over 120 students at Thurston Middle School in Laguna Beach, California, have received education in the safe operation of e-bikes, bike maintenance, and rules of the road from city police officers in an effort to reduce collisions.
According to a presentation to the joint council meeting, Captain Mike Peters reported the data shows the program has successfully led to a decrease in e-bike related accidents, calls for service, and tickets.
The program—which began last summer—has held four classes since it began in the summer of 2022.
Peters said the city’s police department is recognized by the Office of Traffic Safety—the state agency which takes efforts to reduces vehicle related crashes—as leaders in e-bike safety, according to Peters.
“E-Bike safety is probably a bigger problem in coastal cities but it’s a problem everywhere,” Peters told the council during the Monday meeting.
One of several recent crashes reported included the death of a 12-year-old girl, Molly Steinsapir, who died in February 2021 after losing control of her e-bike and crashing onto the pavement on Enchanted Way in Laguna Beach.
The use of e-bikes has increased in California coastal cities since 2019, according to a 2021 report by the North American Bikeshare Association.
E-bikes have a motor to assist with the rider’s pedaling, which increases the potential speed of these bikes to around 28 mph, allowing the user to travel for longer and farther distances.
However, according to Peters, this increases risks for crashes and injury.
Participants of the e-bike safety program must receive a classroom presentation with a test of e-bike safety skills to receive a permit to park their bikes on campus.
Police are also attempting to ensure all students at Laguna Beach High School will have training in CPR and Stop the Bleed—skills to know how to stop active bleeding in an open wound or resuscitate someone whose breathing or heartbeat has stopped.
According to Peters, every freshmen will be trained in these skills by next year, and in four years, the entire student body will know these basic life-saving techniques.
The police department also has two officers to provide a police presence on school campuses as a deterrent to school violence, to provide students with an opportunity to build relationships with students, and gather important information for the awareness of criminal and non-criminal behaviors in the city’s schools.
“It’s about that relationship that is built between the students, the faculty, and parents,” Peters told the joint council. “When one of our school resource officers was giving me a tour of the high school, kids were running up to him and giving him an immediate hug. The only way we get that is through the kids trusting us, talking to them, and joking with them.”
The Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center—a collaboration between Orange County Agencies to analyze safety risks to the public—regularly evaluates city school sites to make recommendations for where school officials can improve safety regulations—including the availability of school resource officers.
Peters reported they are currently waiting for this year’s report to be released from the center so they can understand where they can improve safety and the prevention of gun violence in their schools.
