A Senate committee unanimously approved Wednesday to a bill that would increase regulations on electronic bicycles and scooters.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development reviewed the bill (SB 382) while about a dozen representatives from local governments, law enforcement offices and school boards urged legislators to sharpen rules governing the vehicles, which have been involved in an increasing number of accidents, some of them fatal.
Nancy Bowen, Vice Mayor of Coral Springs, said residents complain every day as the devices are visible throughout the community. And more are entering pedestrian paths.
“Parents worry when they’re walking with their young children,” Bowen said. “Right now, the rules haven’t caught up.”
The bill calls for increased regulation and data collection on the vehicles. It would establish an “electric bicycle task force.” The panel would collect data on e-bike and e-scooter accidents, provide recommendations on enforcement, and submit a report in the Fall to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Tavares Republican Sen. Keith Truenow is sponsoring the bill and said it includes stipulations calling for e-bikers to have an audible warning alert that needs to be sounded and they need to slow to 10 mph when approaching pedestrians.
Even Truenow acknowledged that’s tough to enforce and admitted final regulations won’t be formulated until the task force compiles more data from around the Sunshine State.
“There’s an education portion of this that will go into place,” Truenow said.
The bill now heads to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, its final stop on the way to the Senate floor.
There’s an identical bill (HB 243) co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Yvette Benarroch of Naples and Omar Blanco of Miami making its way through the House.