Naperville will see new restrictions on electric bicycles and scooters, including age limits and fines on parents, following action at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
The new rules, proposed last month, were unanimously approved. State law already governs the use of such vehicles, but many suburban communities are adopting stricter rules to govern e-bike and e-scooter usage, citing issues with young people in particular not following the rules of the road.
Similar to state law, Naperville has three classifications for e-bikes: Class 1 low-speed electric bicycles, which are pedal assist and can reach speeds of up to 20 mph; Class 2 low-speed electric bicycles, which are both pedal assist and throttle and have a maximum speed of up to 20 mph; and Class 3 low-speed electric bicycles, which are pedal assist and can reach speeds of up to 28 mph.
According to state law, riders must be at least 16 to ride a Class 3 e-bike, but under the new Naperville ordinance, riders must be at least 16 to ride any e-bike in Naperville regardless of classification. Parents whose children are caught violating the local law could be fined between $100 to $500, and each day a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense, according to the new rules. The city may also impound e-bikes or e-scooters.
Other new rules for e-bikes include the prohibition of Class 3 e-bikes on multiuse paths. Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes are allowed but cannot exceed a speed limit of 15 mph. Beyond that, e-bikes can be used on roadways and bike lanes, with Class 3 e-bikes only allowed on designated bike lanes.
State law also regulates low-speed e-scooters, limiting them to a maximum speed of 10 mph and prohibiting them on roadways where the speed limit is 35 mph or higher. Riders must be at least 18. Similar to e-bikes, e-scooters can only be used on multiuse paths at a maximum speed of 15 mph in Naperville. They may be ridden on bike lanes and roadways with a speed limit of 35 mph.
Other vehicles like dirt bikes, motor-driven cycles, minibikes and pocket bikes are prohibited on all public streets, sidewalks and multiuse paths in Naperville unless titled and registered as motor vehicles and operated pursuant to state law, according to the new regulations.
“It is not just our young riders that are creating hazards,” Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres said. “We had a crash in the downtown a couple weeks ago where the rider wasn’t a young teen on a sidewalk on an e-bike. I would say more problems than not are the young riders but I would hate to label this just a young riders problem.”
The Class 3 e-bike ban on multiuse paths received some pushback at the Tuesday council meeting, with one Naperville resident arguing that the restriction for multiuse paths does not necessarily enhance safety.
“The bike that I ride now can go as fast as a Class 3 e-bike,” said Dick Page, who was considering buying a Class 3 e-bike. “So I really don’t see how safety is enhanced in this case of not allowing Class 3 e-bikes on the trail when there are plenty of other bikes that can do the exact same thing — non e-bikes — and they would still be there.”
In response to this concern, Arres said the majority of multiuse paths in Naperville are under forest preserve or Naperville Park District jurisdiction. The park district, as well as the forest preserve districts for DuPage and Will Counties, already ban Class 3 e-bikes from their trails. Part of the purpose of the new city ban is to have consistency between all multiuse paths in Naperville.
“(Twenty-eight) miles an hour, while it doesn’t seem like a lot, is still significantly faster than 20 mph,” Chief Arres said. “I don’t think you can underestimate that speed.”
Confusion between municipalities regarding local restrictions is not new, with biking advocate previously raising concerns about the myriad of local laws in different suburbs and the inconsistencies between them. City Manager Doug Krieger noted at the meeting that other municipalities are increasingly banning Class 3 e-bikes from multiuse paths.
“I think given the issue of how many other jurisdictions are setting this exact rule, if we have something different, I just don’t know how that works in practice,” Councilman Ian Holzhauer said. “I think anytime you’re implementing a safety regulation, there’s some level of difficulty drawing a line.”
That said, e-bike fatalities around the metropolitan area show that safety regulations are critical, Holzhauer said.
“But taking a step back, the overall purpose of the regulation is we have evidence around the metropolitan area that there are fatalities that are happening at an alarming rate, particularly from children who are riding these vehicles and getting into pretty gruesome accidents,” Holzhauer said. “The hope here is we don’t see that in Naperville, that we save some lives tonight.”
cstein@chicagotribune.com
