State High Schools of Sunshine Beach, Noosa District and Coolum will ban all e-bikes and e-scooters from school sites from the beginning of the 2026 school year.
Parents were notified by email of the ban which comes after schools consulted with the Queensland Police Service and reached out to school families regarding the use of non-compliant vehicles.
“Despite repeated requests for parental support in managing the use of non-compliant vehicles we continue to see students riding and storing e-mobility devices that do not meet Queensland road laws. This has led to ongoing, numerous concerns from community members who have contacted our schools with reports of unsafe student behaviour,” the letter states.
“A recent audit conducted by QPS revealed that the vast majority of e-bikes and e-scooters on our school grounds are not compliant with Queensland legislation.”
The move comes after reports of several recent fatalities involving young people and e-mobility devices and multiple serious injuries and in light of safety concerns over the additional fire risk posed by lithium battery storage.
Schools have told parents from 2026 any student reported to be breaking the law by riding a non compliant e-bike or e-scooter in school uniform will face a school-based consequence.
The school encourages students to travel to school via school bus services or using conventional bicycles.
The reaction to the notification was swift on social media with a mixed reaction but a majority applauding the move with comments such as “brilliant … great news … wise decision … finally someone taking a stand on the prevalent illegal use of these vehicles”.
Some opposed the move.
One saying, “a few kids do what I agree is stupid things on the road on e-bikes, and every person is punished. You know, what’s stopping the police from working harder and actually getting those shits doing the wrong thing and leave the other kids alone? I did my job well, my child rides his ebike safely, I think it sucks that you can’t just punish those doing the wrong thing”.
Another saying: “Got no dramas with them, see kids riding to sunshine from Tewantin everyday helmets on following rules just getting to school, this will prob add more traffic to already congested morning run.”
A bike mechanic posted his safety concerns regarding materials and parts of the e-bikes and speed restrictions that can be easily modified to increase from 25 to 50km without pedalling.
“The weight alone of these bikes combined with the speed is too much to make an emergency stop with those little brakes that are made for a normal kids bike a third of it’s weight going a quarter of the speed. It’s like putting Suzuki Swift sized brakes on a truck, there’s no way that truck could make an emergency stop … most of those bikes are not serviced either so bald tyres and worn brake pads are what we see 7 out of the 10 bikes that come in and kids do not have the money to spend. At our shop we’ve seen loads of bikes with all sorts of shoddy work done too with tie-rips and sticky tape the preferred fixes, it’s just not safe. So it’s time something is done before more kids have very serious accidents,” it said.
When questions were put to the state government asking if all Queensland State High Schools would ban e-bikes and e-scooters from their sites a Department of Education spokesperson said: “all Queensland state schools place the highest priority on the safety of all students, staff and members of their communities and, as part of this, road safety is regularly highlighted at school”.
“Individual school principals and their communities work together at a local level to address issues of concern regarding student road safety.
The spokesperson said “schools maintain strong relationships with local Queensland Police Service officers as they continue to crack down on illegal e-bikes and scooters to help keep our communities safe”.
