POINT PLEASANT BEACH — At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Point Pleasant Beach mayor and council, Councilwoman Arlene Testa broached concerns she had about e-bike safety in the borough, citing public inquiry into the matter and a group of helmetless riders she saw earlier in the week.
Councilwoman Testa also brought Lt. Clint Daniel of Point Pleasant Beach Police Department into the conversation, to provide an update on how the police department makes stops on bike riders.
“I just wanted to bring it up real quick — I sent everyone an email — just with regard to the e-bikes about something we could possibly visit,” Councilwoman Testa said. “I was driving this weekend, going over the [Route 35] bridge, and there were kids in the car lane with their e-bikes with no helmet. Literally, as if they were motor vehicles.”
She then pointed out that her concerns regarding the bikes were echoed by residents who had complained about the same type of dangerous behavior to her.
“I can’t tell you how many residents have expressed concerns in regard to the e-bikes,” she said. “Especially with the younger kids not wearing a helmet and on the street or the sidewalk. I think it’s something we can look toward the future on, coming up with a game plan.”
With multiple nearby municipalities looking toward imposing restrictions on the electric bikes, residents of Point Beach have raised concerns to borough officials and police.
The council of neighboring Manasquan voted to introduce an ordinance earlier this week that would put numerous rules in place for the operation of the bikes. These rules include: not operating e-bikes faster than is “reasonable,” or in a reckless and careless manner; obeying all
traffic signs and signals; having front and rear lights, as well as bells, among other things.
“We’re actually working on it. Stops on kids right now are about three times what they were last month,” said Lt. Daniel. “Some of the summonses we talked about for the adults were actually moved on to the enforcement phase.”
He then went into detail as to the difficulties officers face when stopping e-bikes. One thing, he said, that makes the job of stopping kids extra tricky is that parents have largely not been responsive when it comes to teaching their children how to safely operate the bikes.
“To be honest with you, the hardest trouble with the e-bikes—it’s the parents,” he said. “I mean, some of the [kids] we stopped without helmets this week, we got some complaints from the parents about enforcing some of that stuff. We’ve given out helmets to some kids; brought them back to headquarters and given out helmets—so, we’re really trying hard. It’s going to take a team effort from everyone.”
Mayor Paul Kanitra also suggested that the police provide Spanish-language material, saying that he had seen multiple people who speak Spanish improperly operating the bikes.
“One other thing I’d add to that…maybe we’d want to do a bilingual education piece as well,” he said. “I’ve noticed a lot of our Spanish-speaking community on bikes flying down the sidewalks as well.”
Lt. Daniel then told him that the police in fact do have dual-language pamphlets about e-bike safety, and, further, have been sending out a couple of Spanish-speaking officers to perform stops.
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