Safe Transportation Research & Education Center

This research brief explores the landscape of electric bikes (e-bikes) and ridership in California, including the evolution of e-bike policies, rider use and demographics, and features of emerging e-bike safety programs. It discusses crash data reporting and explores limitations for capturing e-bike crash data, providing insights into potential solutions with a case study on Marin County. Findings indicate that decision-making when riding ebikes may be influenced by environmental factors, while safety courses offer avenues to engage both students and guardians in the learning experience to increase confidence and skill-building. This brief also explores ways in which hospitals and trauma centers may help alleviate data limitations with their collection of injury reporting relating to e-bikes, and how advances made in Marin County for crash data collection may provide a standard for the rest of the state.