“These kids, particularly on high powered e-bikes – the parents who are buying these bikes without providing the required education around safety, around compliance and being a good community citizen are effectively weaponising that child to injure themselves or someone else, and that’s a concern for us,“ Coolum police sergeant Joel Bryant told a community forum held at Peregian Beach surf club last week.
Peregian Family and Friends President Graham Reid said after concerns about the use and misuse of e-bikes were repeatedly raised in a community survey on local issues held in May the organisation decided to organise a forum to discuss the issue.
Speakers at the forum were Noosa MP Sandy Bolton who has been advocating for safety improvements and better compliance on the issue, Coolum police sergeant Joel Bryant, Transport and Main Road Department road safety spokesperson Leanne Stokes and Ecotekk Noosa e-bike tours and hire operator Stuart Whitney.
There are lots of benefits of e-bikes – exercise, environmental, minimising traffic congestion but what concerns people most is the evidence of misuse of e-bikes typified by younger people riding around skylarking, without helmets, Mr Reid said. “It’s a risk for pedestrians, other road users, the kids themselves,“ he said.
“Road trauma has an agonising affect on our community,“ Sgt Bryant told the forum.
“Any life lost is a trauma.“
We see regularly on community social media pages, why aren’t police doing more about this, he said.
With children having no financial capacity to pay fines police more often than not don’t issue a ticket for infringements and they don’t chase kids on e-bikes, he said.
“It’s a complex area. Imagine what would happen if police tried to pull up a child and they ended up running into a tree – that’s another life lost, a lot of bad feedback for police, no winners from that,“ he said.
“We do take enforcement action.“
Sgt Bryant said police engaged with local schools, having discussions with different year groups on road rules and being a good citizen.
They have conducted enforcement exercises, recently charging a child in Hastings Street with dangerous operation of an e-bike and the bike was confiscated. He said police dealt with offenders on a case by case determination.
We need to be mindful punitive measures are not always the best engagement, sometimes it’s not effective, he said.
“For a number of parents when the police arrive they have no idea what their kids have been up to and they’re absolutely mortified,“ he said.
“We want to divert them from hurting themselves and someone else.“
E-bikes are only one issue requiring police attention.
“We want you to be aware, we work tirelessly to police this and the scourge of domestic violence and mental health,“ Sgt Bryant said.
“We acknowledge e-bike issues, but we have to be mindful there are a number of serious issues going on in our community we have to resource.“
Ms Bolton said when e-bike issues were first brought to her office in April last year she took it forward to government, not only the issues being experienced but some confusion – confusion between what is genuinely an e-bike and what is an electric powered motor bike.
“When I talk to parents who have purchased an electric bike for $8000 and set their child out on the streets without any understanding that an electric motorbike is supposed to be ridden by someone over the age of 16, with a licence and that bike is supposed to be registered, what I’ve heard from parents is that no one advised them of that,“ she said.
In a speech in Parliament she called for the need for innovation including immobilisers, education to be rolled out and monitoring.
We cannot have police on every street corner, we need immobilisers or an alert that if it’s going over a certain speed, it sends out a message, licensing and registration, not just electric motorbikes, but all of them. It should be an education pathway for kids, she said.
The response from government was the cost of such a scheme doesn’t justify it, she said.
“When you think of that, look at the road tolls, the cost to community in death, disabilities, that cost cannot ever be said to not justify having children growing up understanding rules, using shared spaces respectively.
“It’s not saying all our youngsters do this. We have the most amazing youngsters. We have a small amount doing the wrong thing, we have to deal with that.
Following advocacy from Ms Bolton new laws were passed in February to expand the application of careless riding offences for personal mobility devices and bicycle riders from roads to all road-related areas such as footpaths and bicycle paths and requires riders to stop and provide their details in the event of a crash.
TMR’s Leanne Stokes told the forum road safety was everybody’s responsibility and outlined road rules for personal mobility devices (PMDs – electric scooters, skateboards, unicycles) and e-bikes.
She said the maximum speed on a footpath was 12km/hr.
PMDs are for use on roads only 50km/hr or less, if a road is more than 50km/hr there has to be a designated bike lane. You need a helmet, you need to be 16 years of age. Children aged 12-15 can ride but must be supervised by an adult. A PMD only takes one person. You can’t use a mobile phone while on it. You must abide by general road rules, give way to pedestrians, be alcohol-free, have a bell to warn pedestrians and lights and reflectors if riding at night.
If involved in a crash you need to stop and provide assistance and your details, she said.
E-bike riders must have a helmet on, ride in bike lanes and obey road rules.
For speeds up to 6km/hr e-bikes can use an electric motor, for speeds over 6km/hr you need to be pedalling. To be compliant once you get up to 25km/hr, the motor must cut out, so you are pedalling on your own. if not, you’re riding a mini-motor bike which needs to be registered and riders need to be licensed to ride them, she said.
Stuart Whitney said Ecotekk Noosa e-bike tours and hire was established about nine years ago to sell and hire e-bikes and provide tours. With a good safety record and insurance cover Stuart said before taking out a tour they deliver a 20-minute safety induction and assess each rider’s ability.
“We don’t do scooters – we determined it was too great a risk for our business model,“ he said.
“We only sell compliant bikes.“
He said other shops sold bikes for use on private property. It’s not illegal to buy a bike to ride on your own property. Retailers have no control over how people use them.
“We’ve got a problem with motor bikes,“ he said. “It’s a challenge for us as a business operator. We get approached every week to bring in a container of bikes from China that are non-compliant. We won’t touch them.
“The industry is working fast to deal with the cowboys. The federal government is looking at import rules, increased safety around fire hazards. A high quality e-bike should have the same standard battery as a mobile phone.“
Apart for the issues there are positives to e-bikes, Stuart told the forum.
“There are positives. An e-bike provides the same level of fitness as a standard bike – you must pedal to get motor working,“ he said.
“You ride more, take on more challenges. It’s good for maintaining cognitive abilities as we age.
“It’s frustrating for someone trying to run business, to see people running on a throttle, weaving in and out of traffic.“
To help solve the problems, police suggested to the forum that members of the community take photos when they witness incidents and submit them to Policelink by phoning 131 444 or by lodging an online report at www.police.qld.gov.au/policelink-reporting or Crime Stoppers so police can determine the perpetrators.
“Most parents are mortified when they find out about their kids are doing wrong thing, most parents will take action once it’s brought to their attention, once you get someone who doesn’t care about the rules it doesn’t matter how many police we have.
“We need to make sure everybody’s safe. It won’t take long for existing police resources to identify the sources of the problem. One bike seized on Hastings Street sent shock waves through the community.
Sgt Bryant recommended residents with CCTV sign up to the QPS Community Camera Alliance at www.police.qld.gov.au/safety-and-preventing-crime/community-camera-alliance.
“Where we do have support in the community is CCTV or phone footage – it’s a starting point,“ he said.
