The light had turned green but neither the pickup truck in front of me or the SUV in the left turn lane moved.

They saw something that I wouldn’t see until seconds later. A pre-teen boy was about to run a red light via the crosswalk on an E-bike.

He entered the crosswalk after the light turned green for northbound traffic on Powers Avenue where it crosses Yosemite Avenue.

It’s clearly tough to judge speed in that situation, but based on years of bicycling the kid was likely going 15 mph.

And to do that on a regular bicycle takes a bit of effort.

It takes little effort to do so on an E-bike that tops out at 20 mph.

Fortunately, the other drivers were paying attention plus had presence of mind to look down the sidewalk to see the fast approaching E-bike rider.

Bicycles are illegal to ride on sidewalks in California, let alone E-bikes or their kissing cousin, E-motorcycles that can go up to 58 mph.

What possibly go wrong with kids and E-bikes or in cases where parents provide them with E-motorcycles?

Based on an analysis of hospital emergency rooms across the United States, injuries connected with E-bikes have soared 1,200 percent between 2020 and 2024.

The speed they are capable of going that is much greater than old-fashioned kid pedal power can put riders in dangerous situations quicker and more often.

And they can have deadly consequences.

Give a child an E-motorcycle that is illegal in California for someone under 16 to operate and can be 16 times more powerful than an E-bike, and there can be serious consequences.

In California, statistics show 64 percent of all E-motorcycle crashes involve riders between the ages of 11 and 14 despite it being illegal for them to operate.

What has become one of the highest profile among those “accidents” happened in Lake Forest in Southern California in May.

Ed Ashman, 81, was critically injured after being hit by a teenage boy popping wheelies in the middle of the street.

The rider of the Surron E-motorcycle left the scene of the collision. Ashman later died from his injuries.

Eleven months prior based on public records, Tommi Jo Mejer called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to complain that someone was posting pictures of her then-13-year-old son riding an E-motorcycle.

The Orange County Register reported that during a 28-minute interaction with two Orange County Sheriff’s deputies captured on body worn camera, Mejer admitted that she purchased her son a Surron E-motorcycle and knew that he drove it recklessly.

The deputies warned her that she could face potential criminal charges if she continued to allow him to ride the E-motorcycle which he could not legally ride.

Riders of E-motorcycles must be 16 years of age and possess a motorcycle license.

Fast forward to May of this year.

Law enforcement inspection of the 2025 Surron Ultra Bee, the vehicle involved in the fatal collision that led to Ashman’s death, revealed the vehicle is classified as a motor-driven cycle under the California Vehicle Code.

After investigating the fatal hit-and-run, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office charged the mother with felony child endangerment.

Meyer was also charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly unlawfully letting her son to ride an E-motorcycle.

Orange County DA Todd Spitzer staged a “weapon” buyback on Sept. 13 at Angel Stadium.

In less than two hours, more than 1,000 E-bikes and E-motorcycles had been turned in.

Those turning them in got gift cards worth up to $1,000 each. The gift cards were funded by the seized criminal assets.

Gun buybacks are fairly frequent and are a somewhat effective away to reduce gun deaths that claimed the lives of 3,170 people in California during 2024 and wounded another 9,787.

Spitzer was seeking to get other potentially dangerous “weapons” off the street in the form of E-bikes and E-motorcycles.

Orange County is where the rest of California could be headed.

If it sounds like overreach, look at the statistics.

There were 4,061 traffic related deaths of which 1,106 were pedestrians and 283 bicyclists in California during 2025 according to the Office of Traffic Safety. In addition, 227,160 people were injured in 193,539 crashes throughout the state.

Traffic-related crashes and shootings kill roughly the same amount of people annually in California, although almost half of the gun deaths are classified as being the result of a suicide.

Law enforcement and the criminal justice system need to take enforcement of the California Vehicle Code seriously.

Rules are in place to avoid collisions and mayhem as well as save lives and avoid deaths.

Nothing against E-bikes per se, but parents need to understand they are not just allowing their kids to use a bicycle that is merely powered by pedal power.

And, under California law, they can be held criminally liable under various circumstances for their kids’ behavior.