Highland Park bans electric scooters, bikes from parks and paths — and backlash follows

Electric bikes and electric scooters can no longer be operated on Highland Park-owned bike trails, parks, parking lots and sidewalks.

Amendments to the city’s traffic laws, approved in a 6-1 vote by Highland Park City Council last month, require the vehicles to be only operated in the road. The amendments also add age-restrictions; riders must be older than 16 to operate a low-speed e-bike or older than 18 to operate a low-speed e-scooter.

Children under 18 or 16 years old can still operate the vehicles without a driver’s license if accompanied by a guardian. E-bikes and e-scooter riders must obey the rules of the road, posted speed limits, wear a helmet and equip proper lights and reflectors if riding after sunset, per the local ordinance. 

The new regulations come after Highland Park “experienced a rise in safety concerns” concerning e-bikes, e-scooters and similar vehicles, a Highland Park news release announcing the changes said. 

“The City carefully considers proactive public safety measures such as these regulations, to prevent future accidents before they occur,” Highland Park City Manager Ghida Neukirch said in a written statement.

“In the event of a collision, research indicates that riders are especially vulnerable to serious or life-altering injuries, more so than injuries to riders of solely human-powered bikes. Implementing age, location, licensing, and safety equipment regulations address these concerns.”

The regulations apply to any low-speed e-bike defined as a Class 1, 2 or 3 bicycle with an electric motor of less than 750 watts. The regulation applies to any low-speed scooter weighing less than 100 pounds and solely powered by an electric motor with a maximum speed no more than 10 mph.

Not every Highland Park resident, however, shares the administration’s outlook that the added restrictions to e-bikes and e-scooters are what’s best for the city.

“I am fully supportive of keeping our pedestrians and children safe,” Highland Park City Councilmember Jon Center said on June 16 before casting the lone dissenting vote against the amendments.

“I will not be voting yes on this because of the fact that … all e-bikes will no longer be allowed on biking trails and for me that’s contrary to our commitment to a connected community and a bike-friendly community.” 

What’s the issue?

A state law passed in 2024 already requires riders of low-speed e-scooters to be older than 18 and prohibits the vehicles from carrying more than one person or being operated without proper lights and reflectors. The law also grants local municipalities authority to adopt additional regulations. 

Highland Park’s amendments were drafted by city staff after reviewing similar codes in nearby Deerfield, Lake Forest, Evanston and Wilmette, city officials said.

A Village of Winnetka newsletter reminded residents in June that e-bikes exceeding 20 mph and bearing motors over 750 watts may be considered motor vehicles instead of standard e-bikes, thus requiring proper registration, insurance and a license per the state statute. 

Recent village newsletters from Kenilworth and Glencoe echoed that e-scooter- and e-bike-related injuries “have been on the rise” as a “significant number of these injuries result from falls, loss of control or collisions with other vehicles.”

The Highland Park Police Department received about 20 calls for service — including reports of unauthorized use in parks, unsafe operation in business areas and one crash requiring hospitalization — involving the vehicles between January 2024 and June 4, 2025, according to a city memo. 

In nearby incidents, a 53-year-old McHenry County man died from blunt-force trauma injuries on May 25 after he crashed while driving an e-scooter, and a 13-year-old sustained a serious head injury on April 26 after an SUV struck the teen while the teen was riding an electric scooter in Northfield.

In a July 2 newsletter to residents, Highland Park clarified the city is prohibiting the electric vehicles from public parking lots to address concerns of the lots being used as an alternative to riding in streets, and is prohibiting the vehicles from trails because they pose “unique public safety risks to other trail users.”

“These vehicles are quiet by design and can reach high speeds, which can be especially risky for pedestrians, children and strollers, as higher speeds have been shown to limit the riders’ reaction time to try to prevent a collision,” city officials said in the public newsletter.

Opposing view

Ever since obtaining a long-tail cargo ebike in March, Emily Showell-Rouse, a Highland Park parent, has enjoyed how the work of transporting her 2- and 4-year-old around the city to ballet lessons, the library and the beach has become more environmentally friendly and more of an interactive family-activity. 

Even when she was physically tired, the e-bike’s battery allowed her to skip coordinating with her partner for use of their one car and travel further distances. That’s why she considered leaving the city altogether when she heard about Highland Park’s new controls. 

“I was so mad, because I love my (e)bike and all the things here are so geared towards cars in Highland Park,” Showell-Rouse said. “I think the biggest thing that’ll change for me, though, is just being able to take my kids around town without a car. It just adds more traffic to the roads. It’s very frustrating.”

Before the City issued the regulations, Showell-Rouse already primarily rode in the roadway. But biking alongside or being passed by sometimes-aggressive drivers can feel dangerous, she said, especially when Highland Park boasts few, if any, bike lanes in its streets. 

Highland Park city staff considered adding bike lane protections to a 1.4-mile section of Green Bay Road in 2023 but ultimately declined to vote on the design as it could have required widening the street and residents pushed back on the proposal. 

The City’s plan is to proceed without adding bike lanes to Green Bay Road as part of its fiscal year 2028 budget, city officials told The Record.

The council will consider this month implementing a $100 minimum fine for those who violate the new regulations.

City staff will also welcome feedback and evaluate the new regulations this summer to consider bringing possible modifications before the council in the future, Neukirch said.

Feedback has been plentiful thus far, at least on social media. The City’s Facebook post announcing the e-bike and -scooter regulations drew nearly 200 comments, a majority of them criticizing city officials for overreacting and over-regulating.

With the new regulations prohibiting access to public parks and bicycle trails, e-bike users lose access to the only other bike infrastructure in Highland Park, Showell-Rouse argued. She added that people should have the opportunity to use e-bikes safely because they offer an accessible mode of biking for those with physical limitations. 

The local parent will have to risk getting a ticket if she wants to use her Class 1 e-bike to haul her kids to the playground, or else opt to drive instead. All the while, more cars on the street create traffic and safety risks of their own, she argued.

“I feel like, let alone ride a bike, it’s hard to walk to the park and try to cross Park Street because cars are so intense,” Showell-Rouse said. “I understand that everybody is upset about these teens on their motorcycle and e-bikes, but there’s gotta be a different solution.”

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