Olathe’s Teen Council, composed of high school students in the area, has expressed support for upcoming e-bike/e-scooter laws in Olathe, although members did ask for extra education about them in schools.
“In addition to supporting the ordinance update, many Teen Councilmembers offered thoughtful recommendations to strengthen its impact,” Teen Council members wrote in a letter to the city council. “Our conversation highlighted that education and awareness, especially among younger riders and their families, will be critical to the ordinance’s success and to promoting a safer community for all users. Students emphasized the importance of clear and targeted communication, suggesting strategies specifically at schools, including announcements, newsletters, assemblies, and parent engagement to ensure awareness of the new rules.”
The teen council’s opinion, discussed Tuesday by the city council, follows a request by mayor John Bacon to have the younger generation weigh in on proposed electric bike/scooter laws.
The proposed laws, which the city council will vote on April 21, are still in the works, but highlights include speed limits and helmet requirements for minors on scooters. The proposal initially had language about certain trails and paths being subject to e-bike prohibitions, but that language has been removed to avoid confusion — e-bikes are not banned on trails.
The helmet section of the ordinance was a favorite of the teen and city councils, but city council members Tuesday said it should extend to e-bikes as well. City attorney Bob Gallimore explained e-bikes were left out to match bicycle laws, although e-bikes typically weigh between 40 to 70 pounds and can hit speeds of almost 30 MPH with less effort.
“I think [requiring helmets for e-bikes] makes sense,” council member Matthew Schoonover said. “If e-bikes are bigger and heavier and go faster than e-scooters, I don’t understand why we would require helmets for e-scooters but not e-bikes and bicycles.”
Council members LeEtta Felter and Jeff Creighton agreed they’d like to see full helmet requirements.
Another concern of city council members was enforcement, which relates to the teen council’s focus on education.
“While many Teen Councilmembers demonstrated a general awareness of current rules such as sidewalk use, traffic law compliance, and roadway restrictions, we also acknowledged that existing regulations are often unclear, inconsistently followed, or difficult to enforce,” the teen council letter says.
Punishments for breaking the rules could include fines, but police chief Mike Butaud said he thinks most situations can be handled with an educational warning.
“I can see, for many months going forward, there’s going to be a great need for educating kids and parents, and we’re going to put a big emphasis on that,” Butaud said. “I can see a lot of it being complaint-based. So you have a problematic situation in your neighborhood, and you call us to try to handle it.”
Other aspects of the ordinance were also covered for further clarification ahead of the vote, including nighttime lighting and reflective clothing and speed limit rules.
