This summer Local 4 has covered deadly and dangerous crashes involving e-bikes and e-scooters.
A Warren mom is now pushing for new rules after her visually-impaired son was hit by a speeding e-bike on the sidewalk.
In Redford, a brother and sister riding e-bikes were hit by car. The 13-year-old boy was critically injured.
And in Huron Township, a 13-year-old boy on an e-bike was killed when a teen driver hit him.
School districts are taking notice.
“We do not want anyone to get to get hit by one of these scooters,” said Dan Mooney, the principal at Van Hoosen Middle School.
Rochester Community Schools is now banning them altogether. Students will now have to walk their e-bike or e-scooter on school property.
“We believe about 10 to 15 percent of our population are using them now but with the potential of that increasing tenfold, we wanted to have something in place to begin the school year,” said Nicholas Russo, the superintendent of Rochester Community Schools.
With nearly 15thousand students, Rochester Community Schools is the biggest district in Oakland County.
“We have busses dropping off, we have parents dropping off and we have student drivers,” Mooney said.
“We have a lot of things happening at the same time, and those scooters can kind of weave in and out, and so can the bikes,” Russo added.
The district started looking into the dangers of e-bikes last year.
“The speed is definitely a factor, and there’s definitely different classes of them,” Mooney said.
Just last month a 12 year old in Rochester Hills was critically injured after crashing their e-bike into a parked pickup truck.
“You feel bad for those children and those people that are involved in those accidents. And so I think any of those tragedies have far reaching impact,” said Steve Schettenhelm, the former Rochester police chief.
Schettenhelm is the former police chief for Rochester and now serves as the safety and security consultant for the district.
“We have kids that are riding e-motos, which are essentially electric motorcycles that require licensing, that require a specific type of helmet and I think parents are buying those devices unbeknownst to them,” Schettenhelm said.
Right now there’s no state-wide restrictions on the use of e-bikes, e-motos or e-scooters.
This means every city and township is making up their own rules.
This year, the state introduced guidance on the use of smartphones in classrooms.
Districts say something similar could help when it comes to the growing popularity of e-bikes.
