Increasing number of complaints and injuries prompted initiative, deputy says
This week, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office formally launched a campaign to educate the public about the legal use of electric bikes and “e-motos,” an issue that communities across the country are addressing as the vehicles are being used more widely.
The Sheriff’s Office has issued a fact sheet, and it has begun providing posts on its social media accounts in an effort to alert people about the “laws and rules [that] apply to all types of electric bikes and recreational vehicles and where these can be legally ridden and operated,” as Media Relations Specialist Dana Judge wrote in a Feb. 13 advisory to the news media.
In a Sheriff’s Office 10-8 TV segment posted on the agency’s Facebook page on Feb. 18, Deputy Jimmy Adams explained, “We are seeing an increase in complaints and injuries due to the misuse of e-motos and electric bikes” He added, “Our goal isn’t just enforcement; it’s education.”
“An electric bike can be street legal,” Adams pointed out, “but only if it stays under 750 watts and under 28 mph.”
Electric bikes also can be ridden on The Legacy Trail in Sarasota County, he noted, but only if the operators obey the speed limit, which is 15 mph.
Further, Adams said, e-bikes can be ridden on roadways and sidewalks and in bicycle lanes.
Electric scooters also are allowed on The Legacy Trail, Adams continued. Yet, again, he said, they cannot exceed the speed limit.
They, too, are allowed on roadways, bicycle paths and sidewalks, as long as they are under 750 watts and they do not operate over 20 mph, Adams added.
“E-motos are really motor vehicles,” he explained. “They must be registered, and you must have a driver’s license with a motorcycle endorsement and the property safety gear to operate one.”
They are not legal on roadways, he stressed. “As a matter of fact,” he pointed out, “e-motos can only be operated on private property.”
As for golf carts: Adams explained that they can be operated only on certain roadways, and they are not allowed on The Legacy Trail.
Moreover, he emphasized, they cannot be operated on sidewalks.
Adams concluded the 10-8 TV segment by telling viewers, “Before you buy one, before your child rides one, before you take one on a trail or path, know the rules, because when everyone knows and understands the law, everyone stays safer.”