Let's be clear about what's happening. Kids across the Bay Area are riding e-bikes — and in many cases, what are legally electric mopeds or motorcycles — with zero safety gear, zero understanding of traffic laws, and zero enforcement waiting for them on the other side. It's not cute. It's a trip to the ER waiting to happen.

The laws here actually aren't the problem. California already regulates e-bike speed and classifies anything over 28 mph pedal-assist or 750 watts as an electric motorcycle or moped, requiring a license, registration, and insurance. Helmets are required for minors on e-bikes. Riding on sidewalks? Already illegal. As one Bay Area resident put it bluntly: "The laws already exist. The problem is that non-compliant high-speed devices are being imported by people ignoring the regulations, and the devices are not being confiscated."

Another local nailed the broader frustration: "These parents are giving actual e-bikes a bad name by giving their kids emotos when they don't understand the laws of the road."

And it's not just helmets. Riders are tearing through sidewalks, going the wrong way in bike lanes, and — our personal favorite — doing the full combo of jumping between streets, bike lanes, sidewalks, and crosswalks at random. As one resident observed: "Good luck everybody else."

This is fundamentally a parenting issue dressed up as a policy debate. We don't need new laws. We need parents to understand that handing a 12-year-old an unregulated electric vehicle capable of 35+ mph is not the same as buying them a Schwinn. And we need the city to actually enforce the rules already on the books — confiscate non-compliant devices, ticket sidewalk riders, and make it clear that public roads aren't a lawless free-for-all.

Liberty comes with responsibility. You want your kid to ride? Great — get them a helmet, teach them the rules, and make sure the bike is actually street-legal. The alternative isn't more freedom. It's a tragedy that was entirely preventable.