Despite concerns, Highland Park votes to keep laws regulating e-bikes, e-scooters intact

Highland Park City Council considered on Monday loosening recently imposed traffic laws on electric bikes and electric scooters but ultimately voted to keep the regulations unchanged for now. 

The council decided 4-3 against an amendment to the city’s traffic laws that would have allowed Class 1 e-bikes and e-scooters on Highland Park-owned bike trails. The council then unanimously approved a motion to review the existing regulations on the electric vehicles in October. 

Citing a rise in safety concerns, Highland Park City Council voted 6-1 in June to add new restrictions on e-bikes and e-scooters. Under the adopted rules, the vehicles can no longer be operated in city-owned parks, parking lots, sidewalks and bike trails, and they can now only be lawfully operated in the roadway. 

The amendments also added 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 electric vehicles without a driver’s license if accompanied by a guardian. 

Highland Park City Council voted in July to increase the minimum fine for violating its new regulations on e-bikes and e-scooters from $10 to $100. The top range for a ticket remains at $500. 

In the aftermath of June’s decision, city staff recommended rescinding the prohibition of e-bikes and e-scooters on local bike trails to “ensure consistency with regional standards while allowing the City to continue addressing safety concerns through targeted enforcement and community education,” city documents said. 

Mayor Nancy Rotering said she is not aware of any municipalities surrounding Highland Park that prohibit e-bikes on their bike trails. While Green Bay Trail is owned by Highland Park, Skokie Valley Trail is owned by Lake County, which permits e-bikes on the trail, city documents said. 

Councilmembers Jon Center and Andrés Tapia expressed support for drafting more precise regulation in allowing pedal-assisted bikes on city bike paths and banning the high-speed electric “motorcycles” councilmembers said they’ve seen teens riding dangerously.

“I don’t think we have an e-bike issue; we have a motorcycle problem and we have an irresponsible child problem,” Center said. “Why are we penalizing law-abiding citizens who want to ride their bikes in a safe way and enjoy the trails because there’s some bad apples?”

He added, “I don’t think it’s good lawmaking to restrict our residents. I think we’re projecting our individual experiences to say that it’s better for residents what we’re voting here and I think it’s not better for a lot of residents.”

The City’s Facebook post announcing the June-approved e-bike and -scooter regulations drew nearly 200 comments, many criticizing city officials for overreacting and over-regulating. 

One resident told The Record she appreciates how her e-bike offers a more accessible way of transporting her kids around town in an otherwise car-centric community. 

But council members and individuals from the public reiterated on Monday their concern for seeing individuals riding the electric-motorized vehicles at reckless speeds through the city, sometimes racing through intersections without stopping or tailgating cars without any lights.

“Today at 12:45 p.m. I was driving by the post office and I saw six bikers in a row, single file, going full speed down the sidewalk on Central toward the business district,” Barbara Sereda, of Highland Park, told the council. “It’s just endless.”

“Now we’re proposing this amendment that we siphon these kids to the bike trail, where there’s toddlers, there’s people walking dogs, there’s pedestrians. I just ask that you consider making some sort of safety addition — for example, speed limits,” Sereda added. 

While the proposed amendment from city staff on Monday would have rescinded the prohibition of e-bikes and e-scooters on Highland Park bike trails, Tapia proposed the amendment on which the council ended up voting: the amendment that only the lower-speed Class 1 e-bikes be allowed on city bike trails.

Rotering, Tapia and Center voted in favor of that amendment. Councilmembers Anthony Blumberg, Barisa Bruckman, Annette Lidawer and Yumi Ross voted against, striking it down and effectively keeping the current regulations in place.

City Manager Ghida Neukirch noted before the vote that directing Highland Park police officers to allow Class 1 e-bikes on city bike trails while ticketing other classes of electric vehicles would pose a practical challenge, like trying to “enforce iPhones and not Androids.”

Blumberg, Lidawer and Bruckman all indicated they were open to re-evaluating the current regulations again in the fall once Highland Park police have collected more data on incidents and infractions related to electric vehicles. 

Rotering said she and several other state mayors have shared their ordinances regulating electric vehicles to Chris Welch, speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, to highlight a need for uniform action instead of a patchwork of laws across different municipalities. 

Welch indicated it’s likely he will bring up the issue of electric vehicles during the General Assembly’s upcoming veto session, Rotering said. 

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