San Diego’s City Council has advanced an ordinance banning children under 12 from riding e-bikes, according to Times of San Diego. The council approved the measure unanimously on first reading, citing a sharp rise in e-bike injuries among kids. If you are a parent in the San Diego area, or you are shopping for a family e-bike, the details are worth a few minutes of your time.
The short version: kids under 12 cannot ride Class 1 or Class 2 e-bikes in the city once the ordinance takes effect, Class 3 e-bikes remain limited to riders 16 and older, and enforcement starts gently, with education and warnings before any fines.
What The Ordinance Does
The core change is an age floor: children under 12 are banned from riding e-bikes. Per the California Vehicle Code definitions cited in the report, that covers Class 1 e-bikes, which are pedal-assisted up to 20 mph, and Class 2 e-bikes, which are throttle-assisted up to 20 mph. Class 3 e-bikes, pedal-assisted up to 28 mph, were already limited to riders 16 or older.
The ordinance also reinforces existing California law: anyone under 18 must wear a helmet, and a bike designed for one person cannot carry more than one rider.
A violation carries a $25 fine, but there is a practical off-ramp. Anyone who is cited can complete an e-bike safety program to avoid the fine. Councilmember Raul Campillo, who introduced the ordinance, told the council the goal is not to punish anyone, particularly children, but to prevent injuries before they happen.
The Injury Numbers Behind It
The data driving this is hard to argue with. Rady Children’s Health saw three e-bike injury cases in 2021. By 2025, that number had climbed to 262, and e-bikes were the largest cause of injury for trauma visits that year, according to Rady Children’s officials. The system logged 98 cases from January through March of 2026 alone.
Matt Derkrikorian, who directs the emergency department along with the trauma and urgent care programs at Rady Children’s Health, told Times of San Diego that his teams see severe injuries including fractures, internal organ damage, and traumatic brain injury, often because children do not understand the rules of the road. As he put it, he is not anti-e-bike, he is pro-safety and pro-kid.
This Is a County-Wide Trend, Not a One-Off
San Diego is acting under the countywide San Diego Electric Bicycle Safety Pilot Program, which authorizes the city and other local authorities in the county to enact this kind of ban. Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, who wrote the bill that created the pilot program, said she introduced it after seeing a rise in e-bike accidents in her district, which includes Carlsbad, Coronado, Del Mar, Encinitas, parts of San Diego, and Solana Beach. Some of those crashes were fatal.
Seven other cities in the county already have e-bike laws, and all of them prohibit children under 12 from operating an e-bike. Some go further than San Diego, per the report, including allowing confiscation of e-bikes and restricting them in certain areas. If you ride across city lines in San Diego County, do not assume the rules are identical everywhere.
What Parents and Buyers Should Do Now
We are not offering legal advice, but the practical takeaways are straightforward:
- Check the age math before you buy. If your child is under 12, an e-bike of any class is off the table in San Diego once this takes effect. A conventional bike is the option that stays legal.
- Know your class. Class 1 and Class 2 top out at 20 mph and fall under the new under-12 ban. Class 3 reaches 28 mph and requires a rider who is at least 16. If a seller cannot tell you the class, that is a red flag.
- Helmets are not optional. California already requires helmets for riders under 18, and this ordinance reinforces that. Budget for a good one with the bike.
- One bike, one rider. Doubling up a passenger on a bike built for one person is a citable violation, and it is a common sight outside schools.
- Use the warning period. The 60-day warning window and education campaign are the time to reset habits with your kids before the $25 citations start.
The Bottom Line
San Diego’s ordinance is less about the fine and more about drawing a clear line: e-bikes can move quickly enough to create real road-risk questions, and the city is moving toward a rule that children under 12 should not be operating them. With injury cases at Rady Children’s rising from three in 2021 to 262 in 2025, expect more cities inside and outside the county to study the same playbook. If you are buying for a young rider, match the bike class to the rider’s age first and the spec sheet second.
Source: Times of San Diego, San Diego joins growing list of cities to approve restrictions on e-bikes.