E-bike Wild West: Harford kids race at deadly speeds

Children are riding high-speed electric bikes through Harford County neighborhoods with no helmets, no licenses, and sometimes with toddlers on the back, and local officials say they have no real power to stop it.

What’s happening: The Harford County Council voted 7-0 to ask the county’s state legislators to pass statewide safety rules for electric bikes. The resolution itself does not create any new law. It asks Harford County’s delegation to the Maryland General Assembly to take up the issue when the legislature meets.

What council members described: Several members said they have personally seen dangerous riding in their neighborhoods.

• Council Member Nolanda Robert said she has watched riders fly down Route 755 and Willoughby Beach Road, including a child carrying a toddler on the back of a bike with no helmets, while cars nearly hit them.
• Councilman Jacob Bennett said he regularly sees young children — some in elementary school — riding e-bikes like toys, sometimes with younger siblings on board.
• Bennett said he has heard from emergency responders and hospital staff about more children getting hurt in e-bike crashes. He also cited a Johns Hopkins study he said found that riding an e-bike triples the risk of a skull fracture compared to a regular bike.
• Council Member Tony Giangiordano said that in 35 years in the insurance business, he never had a client hit a bicyclist, but in the past two years, four of his clients have hit children on bikes.

Why enforcement is hard: Local police have little ability to address the problem. Robert said she has called law enforcement while watching riders race down streets, but by the time officers arrive, the riders are parked in driveways and no longer on their bikes. Giordano said chasing children on bikes is a near-impossible task for police, and officers likely will not do it.

What makes e-bikes different: Unlike cars or motorcycles, e-bikes require no driver’s license, no registration, and no insurance. Bennett noted that many e-bikes are sold with a factory top speed of 20 mph, but that limit can be removed with a simple modification, letting riders go as fast as they want.

The path forward: The resolution goes to Harford County’s delegation in the General Assembly. State legislators would need to introduce and pass a bill to create any actual safety rules. The Maryland Association of Counties noted that Frederick City and Frederick County are also looking at regulations for e-bikes and electric scooters, and that serious accidents involving young riders have happened in other jurisdictions, including at Delaware beaches.