E-Bikes and Electric Scooters: What Are the Rules of the Road?

Well, as Paul Harvey would once say, good day. I'm Eric Detheridge. And I'm Danielle Webster. Welcome back again to another episode of Prairie Beach. Our weekly news podcast from us here at Prairie Public, Danielle, what is on the beat this week? Well, so this week, nothing breaking per se, but kind of. topic that might be on many people's minds, especially during the summer months. A couple weeks ago, you actually suggested that we talk about electric scooters and bicycles. It's like you're interested in. Yes. Now I get to be the old man that I become and do the get off my lawn episode. Yelling at a cloud. Yeah, but now I get to talk to you, dear listener and rant along with you because maybe you've almost been run over by one of these things. But man, the kids in my neighborhood, they're just zipping around on these e-scooters and e- quote unquote bikes that go so darn fast. And I've heard accidents with those things can get pretty bad. You can just imagine that. I mean, these things are practically many motorcycles on the sidewalk, for goodness sake. Yeah. I've seen a few in my neighborhood, too. E-bikes, I know I've seen quite a bit, but the electric scooters are also pretty prolific. I feel like I've seen kids riding them to school, things like that, maybe even off to the Cheyenne River with some fishing poles. And I know it seems a little bit like it's the wild wild west out there, and maybe it is to some extent. But there are, in fact, some rules that we do have to follow when it comes to these quote-unquote vehicles. Sergeant Jacob Moss, J-A-C-O-B-M-A-A-H-S. So Sergeant Maas has been with the Fargo Police Department for about 12 years, and he told me the last five years or so they've really noticed a prolific increase in these types of vehicles around town. He says that has to do with, of course, you know, how easily and readily they are now available, both in stores, and you can also get them online. And they come in all shapes and sizes, too. And each of these vehicles fit into different classes that have sets of rules that apply. North Dakota law has actually three different classes of e-bikes and some specific... things to look out for to help you determine if it falls into that. The bike, it needs to have operable pedals, needs to have a seat, and the electric motor can't be more than 750 watts. And then there's three different classes for those, and that has to do with how the bike is propelled with that electric motor, so whether it can be propelled with pedal assist or with throttle assist or a combination of both. And then depending on those... Classifications, the top speed as well. So up to 20 miles per hour for Class 1 and Class 2 and up to 28 miles per hour for the Class 3 bike. He also made sure to point out that with these e-bikes, specifically the same rules of the road, so to say, apply to these vehicles as to regular bikes. So you can ride them in the street or on the sidewalk. That's interesting. And up to 28 miles per hour. Yeah.

I mean, that seems pretty fast, but what about these scooters? In Fargo specifically, the rules are pretty strict, actually. So there's a local ordinance for motorized scooters. The top speed that's allowed is 15 miles per hour. So if your scooter can go faster than that, it's just straight up illegal, technically. And these things you can use on sidewalks, except the sidewalks on Broadway and downtown Fargo, you're not supposed to drive them there at all, period. And you can't drive them in the street. That certainly does seem to make sense. So Danielle, did start? Sergeant Moss say they hand out a lot of citations for people riding these things. They really are quite a shock to see when they just whizz right past you. It seems like they're going way faster, certainly, than 28 miles per hour. So he says they do have interactions with people on these vehicles. They focus a lot on education and safety. It's a pretty new phenomenon, I think. And the prevalence of them, of course, is far ahead of our collective consciousness of them. So as that catches up, people will be needing to. know what's allowed and what the risks can be as well. Like I was saying before, you can go pretty fast on these things. Largely, I mean, you're limited to like your helmet. So some of these devices, our city ordinances, require certain people do wear helmets, specifically our motorized scooters. If you're under 18, you have to wear a helmet. And then for those class three e-bikes. If you're under 18, you have to wear a helmet as well. But we recommend everybody wears a helmet for any of these devices. Well, a helmet seems, sorry for this, like a no-brainer. I really don't care who you are or what kind of device you're driving. A helmet is always a good idea because... Head injuries are just incredibly serious. Yeah, I also spoke to an emergency room physician at Essential Health. In Fargo here, his name is Dr. Christopher Anderson. And he agreed with Sergeant Moss about the last five years or so, really seeing these devices explode and popularity. But then in his line of work, they do tend to see those injuries that are related to them. A lot of different of the injuries that you can get are more minor, you know, the scrapes and bruises and even broken bones, things like that. But he does say that a recent bulletin put out by the American College of Surgeons in 2024 addressed head injuries. They cited in February 2024. U.S. researchers reported a 49-fold increase in e-bike riders with head trauma nationally over the last five years. That's a pretty startling statistic. And they included some graphs in this bulletin. And, you know, the e-bike collisions really did start. kind of almost exponentially increasing starting in around 2022. And so we've seen quite a few since that time. And that's just to the people riding the bikes and the scooters, my goodness, what about the pedestrians? What about the pets who were on a leash who were walking and they get into a collision with these speeding devices? I imagine that's going to make insurance rates go up. I mean, you could just like, you know, you could just count in dollars and cents. The kind of things that without some sort of regulatory control. putting some kind of cap on this is going to occur as time goes on. Now, like he says, pretty startling to hear, but also if more people are tooling around on these things, that does create more opportunities for things to happen. Hopefully, some of that collective consciousness, you mentioned a minute ago, Danielle, could start catching up. It's kind of like with motorcycles, right? They wear protective clothing and hopefully helmets, although it's not mandatory in some places. Yeah.

And, of course, follow the rules of the road. We all have to do that. But they do rely on other drivers to take notice of them, too. Yeah, that was one of the things Sergeant Moss said. We are more used to seeing motorcycles, probably even things like regular bikes and scooters and even skateboards and things of that nature. But the rate of speed that these electric devices can reach can be something that catches people off guard for sure. But if you're looking to drive one of these vehicles or your kids are wanting one, Dr. Anderson says there are some precautions you can take and really rules of the road to everyone. should understand before they get on that vehicle and hit that throttle. And he says the most important thing, of course, is helmet use, but there are some other factors that come into play too. Yeah, visibility also is really important. You know, where, ideally wear brightly colored clothing, you know, have some kind of, you know, light. lighting on the the bike itself to help make it more visible. I think the more you can add to the visibility, the better. And then, you know, I think the other thing is that, you know, if you're, if, if you're riding these. e-bikes on a road, you have to be knowledgeable of the rules of the road. And I do worry that we have a lot of younger and inexperienced riders who may not know all the traffic rules or all the rules that they should be following. Now, North Dakota is a pretty, you know, let's just say wild, wild west when it comes to regulation on things. It's not the first one to run into the regulatory arena. So I'm sure there's many variations when it comes to rule state to state, right? Kids, if you're under 18 and you're on these things, you're required to wear a helmet. But, you know, if you're over 18... you can make your own choices. Not seeing it. Not seeing it with kids either. So we've been talking specifically about Fargo here too, but, you know, Sergeant Maas says law enforcement is very responsive to questions about these devices. And they want to communicate about that a lot with the public. And they do so on their social media platforms. And they welcome, you know, phone calls, questions about that. North Dakota's Century Code is also easily found online. It's all free to look at that. And at the end of the day, you know, police, medical personnel. and just people like you and I and in general, I think, you know, we all are hoping that folks are being safe with these vehicles. So while there are issues with them, clearly, they are very popular. And not just with young people, but adults and even elderly people who may use them for more expanded mobility. So there could be some great opportunities there as well. Just waiting for the law to catch up as the injuries mount, I'm sure.

It will. Our producer, Tate Calloway, just told us a few minutes ago before we went to start recording Prairie Beat that he witnessed a little bit of an altercation involving an East Scooter in downtown Fargo. And I would expect some collisions, if you will, like that will just be on the rise. So just a matter of everybody understanding what the rules of the road are and the risks involved in developing, like you said, that collective consciousness. Yes, I think so too. All right, Danielle, let's... Zip on into the end of this episode before we sign off today. What else has been making headlines in the Prairie Public Newsroom this week? I just have never been with a student as good as Shana. I've never been with someone so confident. A student nurse at Ascentia was presented with the Daisy Award last week, which is a very prestigious honor in that field. The American Red Cross has declared a crisis-level blood shortage for the second month in a row this summer and with classes set to begin again. Later this month in North Dakota, United Way of Cast Clay is handing out backpacks filled with school supplies to kids whose families may not be able to afford them. And let's make it clear the lack of blood supplies, not because of e-scooter accidents. No, it's not. At least not yet. No, not yet. All right. Well, man, summer really did fly by once again, and this summer perhaps it flew by on an e-bike. Thanks for all that. Danielle, I had to get one more day. Yeah, you bet. Well, be sure to tune in to Prairie Public for more news or check us out online at news.prarypublic.org. I get off my lawn. That's it for us. On the beat this week, I'm Eric Dethridge. And I'm Danielle Webster. We'll see you on the beat next week.