DELAND, Fla. – The city commission is considering adding e-bikes to the list of prohibited mobility devices on downtown sidewalks and requiring helmets for riders younger than 18.
City code already bars bicycles, scooters, and skateboards on downtown sidewalks, and commissioners are considering whether to explicitly add e-bikes to that list.
Johnny Kadriu, owner of Tony’s New York Pizza, said he sees e-bikes frequently using sidewalks where customers sit outside.
“Sometimes some people are good drivers, it’s like street cars, [but] some go crazy, customers are eating outside, old people are walking, especially with little kids,” he said. “Thank God I have a wide sidewalk, and it’s a little bit easier for me, but other places it’s dangerous, very, very, very hard to do business.”
The city commission is scheduled to discuss the proposals at 7 p.m. Monday.
Across the state, lawmakers have recently moved to limit e-bike speeds around pedestrians, with a 10-mph restriction now in place.