‘E-bike lady’ educates new riders before hitting streets on electric bikes

Jennifer Robbins holds up a diagram to a new owner of an electric bike, a 13-year-old who just got a Christmas gift that can reach speeds upward of 25 mph.

Robbins explained the basics most driving adults know, but many kids do not: What dotted lines on the roads mean, who has the right of way, what direction to navigate roads on – information that could mean life or death for a youngster gearing up to hit the roadways.

Robbins, in the past two years, has earned the moniker “the e-bike lady” for her persistence in getting kids educated before sharing the streets with vehicles – a valuable service in recent years as a surge in electric bikes has been followed by an increase in hospital visits.

And she does it all for free for anyone who has an hour or so to show up at the parking lot of Marco Forster Middle School in San Juan Capistrano.

Robbins started doing the lessons after seeing complaints about e-bike riders – some with photos of kids doing reckless things near cars – all over social media.

“But no one wanted to do anything about it,” said Robbins, who lives in San Juan Capistrano, one of the many cities that has seen a rise in popularity of e-bikes in recent years. “Anybody can do what I do. It’s not rocket science.”

She said she reached out to the Bike Coalition of San Diego to start gathering information. She sifted through the DMV handbook to see what information would be important. She put together packets and started reaching out to e-bike companies so they could tell new riders about her.

“At the end of the day, I’m trying to make conversation and pass along what I’ve learned,” she said. “The more we talk, the more we can do.”

She’s had tough learning lessons with her own two teenage kids, both e-bike riders who have been hit by vehicles. Her daughter, 15, sustained a severe concussion after her head hit a curb and she didn’t recognize Robbins for three days, her mom said.

Still, Robbins is an advocate for e-bike riding, as long as those using them are educated and know the rules of the roads.

She likes the independence they give her kids and her son, Mikey, 13, has learned the mechanics of how they work so well that he recently built his own. He often shows up to his mom’s classes to teach other kids how to maintain their bikes, like how to adjust the breaks if they feel soft.

Before getting on their electric-powered bikes, her own children had to ride around for a month following Robbins, learning the rules of the road, she said.

“My kids knows everything and have still made mistakes, because they are kids,” Robbins said. “We just have to fill them with the most information possible and wish for the best. But if we feel as if they are not responsible enough, they should not have a bike.”

In recent years, there has been a surge in hospital visits reported by officials.

For example, Providence Mission Hospital reported 113 injured e-bike riders that required medical attention in 2021 – and two deaths, both adults, one wearing a helmet and another without – and 222 patients in 2022. More than half of the injuries that year were to children, with 72 of them younger than 14 years of age. An estimated 147 cases reported head or neck injuries.

There’s been some action by government officials to get a better handle on rules and regulations regarding the safe riding of e-bikes.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors asked its staff last month to work with a county traffic committee to draft an ordinance creating new safety regulations for electric bicycles.

“During the past few years, we’ve seen a rapid increase in the number and variety of e-bikes on roads and pathways” said Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley, who suggested coming up with new rules. “While e-bikes expand clean, active transportation options for residents, e-bikes also pose a major public safety concern due to failure to wear helmets and no clear safety and speed regulations on trails, major arterials, and neighborhoods.”

There’s a bill also making its way through the state legislature, authored by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, who represents the San Diego area, to require a license for e-bike riders without an active driver’s license.

The bill would require an online written test and a state-issued photo identification for those without a driver’s license, prohibit anyone younger than 12 from riding an e-bike and task a working group to establish an e-bike training program and license.

Some cities have enacted their own rules, like San Clemente prohibiting the bikes on its popular bike path and Huntington Beach allowing police officers to issue citations or impound bikes for misuse. Some schools are also trying to get a handle on the sudden influx of e-bikes on and around campus, including some requiring a permit to ride one to school.

There are also more training programs available with support from grants and bicycle safety coalitions.

But until there’s a more streamline educational mandate in place, Robbins said she will be out meeting with kids and their parents, or anyone else who wants to learn more.

Some of her sessions have drawn more than 100 people, while others, like on a recent day, are just one kid with zero e-bike experience. She doesn’t take them on rides; it’s more like a hands-on, outdoor lecture to learn the basics.

She started her session on a recent day with teen Nixon Herzog by looking him straight in the eye and telling him to listen to his parents over anything she says.

Then, she got straight to business. Avoid sidewalks if at all possible, but if you need to, walk them or go as slow as pedestrians, she told the teen. Always go the same direction as the flow of traffic, she said as she sifted through the diagrams. Watch for cars pulling out of driveways or someone in a parked car flinging their car door open.

“Read that packet 10,000 times when you go home, look at the drawings,” she said. “If a car is not doing it, you don’t do it.”

If you ever hit anything or get hit, always tell your parents, she said.

“If you bend something, if you don’t let anyone know, the next ride you go on the wheel can fall off,” she explained.

She taught him how to tell if the brakes need adjusting – showing how the brake handle should stop with a two-finger measurement to the handle – and reiterated the importance of keeping tools under the seat in case something breaks.

Like cars, rearview mirrors should be mandatory. So should lights on bikes, especially because of how early it gets dark this time of year, she said.

Herzog soaked in every word during their lesson.

The teenager said he looked forward to taking the bike down to the Dana Point Harbor to fish, or getting to school at Dana Hills High on his own.

“I think a lot more kids should take a class like this. I see kids doing wheelies on the wrong side of the road, doing 40 miles an hour,” he said. “That’s a bad idea.”

His mom took comfort knowing her son would be on the road with a bit more education.

“I don’t want him riding anywhere without knowing the rules of the road,” she said. “The fact that she’s doing it for free, why doesn’t every kid do this?”