Riverside will adopt the Illinois Vehicle Code into its municipal code, allowing the village to issue citations at the local level rather than the state level so cases can be adjudicated locally. The village will also ban the use of e-bikes and e-scooters on sidewalks entirely due to the high speeds some of them can reach.
At their Oct. 16 meeting, trustees directed village staff to draft an ordinance codifying such changes after Village Manager Jessica Frances and Public Safety Director Matthew Buckley described issues that have been observed in town related to the public’s use of e-bikes, especially among children.
At the state level, e-bikes that can go up to 28 mph, legally referred to as Class 3 e-bikes, cannot be driven by people under the age of 16, which some parents in town may not realize, Frances said. Class 1 e-bikes have a motor that only works while the rider is pedaling while Class 2 e-bikes can be exclusively propelled by motor, but both top out at 20 mph, according to a village memo.
Buckley said he and police officers in town have witnessed children and teenagers recklessly driving e-bikes in the road or on sidewalks while disobeying regular traffic rules, like weaving in and out of traffic or ignoring stop signs. He said the issue is exacerbated by the police department’s desire not to pursue children who do so, as it would require them to cite the children to face adjudication in Maybrook.
“They know we can’t chase them. That’s the funny part about it. They know what they can get away with. A lot of times, they head right to the swinging bridge because they know we can’t drive our cars over it, and then they’re into the woods and gone,” Buckley said.
He said having a local mechanism for enforcement would make it easier to curtail such behaviors in the name of keeping e-bike drivers and pedestrians alike safe.
Trustee Elizabeth Kos said she agreed with barring e-bikes from being used on sidewalks due to the high speeds they can reach and the possibility of crashes causing injuries when riders don’t have enough reaction time to stop.
“If you’re a little kid, and you’re just playing on the sidewalk, and you get hit by something going 10 to 20 mph, that’s a serious accident,” she said. “There is a place for them [in Riverside], but I think that there’s a significant safety concern with allowing them on sidewalks. I even have concerns about allowing them on school property.”
Trustee Aberdeen Marsh-Ozga agreed and said she was supportive of an education campaign targeting all members of Riverside’s community, including adults, so they can understand the rules for themselves and make decisions on behalf of their children when it comes to having e-bike access.
Village Attorney Bob Pickrell said the state law regarding e-bikes, as well as the technology that is available, is continuously changing and that the matter of regulating individual motorized vehicles may return to the village board in the future.
At the state level, e-scooters, scooters that can reach similar speeds to e-bikes, cannot be ridden by anyone under 18, though Trustee Cristin Evans said she was supportive of looking into lowering the age to 16, which the rest of the board agreed with.
Frances said the issue will return to the board at a future meeting with more information about what is allowable and for adoption of an ordinance.
