Bloomfield Township offering e-bike safety course amid crashes and reckless riding concerns

Earlier this year, Bloomfield Township, Michigan, banned the use of electric bicycles by anyone under the age of 16 on township-owned property and rights-of-way.

"This year alone, we fielded over 100 calls for service involving usually juveniles on e-bikes or e-motos riding recklessly, almost hitting pedestrians," Sean Manor, community relations officer, Bloomfield Township Police Department, said. "We've also had probably about a dozen crashes this year, including the one on Labor Day, that resulted in two juveniles getting very serious injuries."

The Bloomfield Township Police Department was tasked with developing a safety course, and the moratorium was amended.

"If someone under 16 comes through this class and allows us to inspect their bike and have it registered with the police department, they're then again [able] to ride on township-owned properties and rights-of-way. As long as it passes, we'll issue a registration sticker, and that's a cost of only $20," Manor said.

The four-hour course tackles a variety of topics, including how to safely pass a pedestrian, a demonstration by officers on hand signals and approaching intersections.

"We talk about braking distance and getting, you know, students to realize that it's not a linear relationship between speed and braking distance; actually exponential. So if they double their speed, they actually need four times as much space to come to a complete stop," Manor said.

While completing the class allows teens 16 and under to operate their e-bikes, everyone is encouraged to attend.

"We actually highly, highly encourage parents to attend with their kids. But even if, say, it was an adult who doesn't have any kids coming through, we'd be more than happy to have them come through this class as well. We believe this is a very important safety message for everyone to hear," Manor said.

The next class is on Nov. 21.