INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. — Indian Trail leaders are moving toward regulating e-bike usage following a town hall meeting on Tuesday, where Mayor David Cohn directed the town attorney to draft a new ordinance.
The proposal aims to address growing safety concerns regarding motorized bikes on local sidewalks and greenways.
The move comes amid increasing resident complaints about minors operating e-bikes at high speeds and ignoring traffic laws.
While the town cannot regulate e-bikes on state-controlled roads, officials are seeking to establish local rules for speed limits and sidewalk safety to protect both riders and pedestrians.
Cohn said the prevalence of e-bikes in neighborhoods has led to unsafe conditions, particularly involving younger riders. Cohn noted that many operators are minors who do not have licenses and often fail to stop at stop signs while riding on sidewalks.
“No license and riding on the sidewalks and they’re not obeying the law, not stopping at stop signs and they’re going 30, 35 miles an hour,” Cohn said.
He added that the issue has escalated to intentional disruptions of traffic. “What’s really happening now is you’re seeing large groups of kids doing wheelies down the road, sometimes they’re aggravating, on purpose, the cars,” Cohn said.
The town faces specific jurisdictional limits on where it can enforce new regulations.
Indian Trail cannot regulate vehicles on streets controlled by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which prevents the town from mandating insurance, licensure, or helmets on state-maintained roads.
“We can’t regulate them on any NCDOT streets, I think we can create an ordinance dealing with our sidewalks and greenways, dealing with speed limits,” Cohn said.
Town leaders are currently evaluating how to assign accountability for violations.
Cohn expressed that it may be difficult to determine if consequences should fall on the operators or their guardians. “Do you hold the parents responsible or do you hold the children responsible?” Cohn said.
While town leaders are recommending civil penalties in the ordinance, it remains unclear how minors would be cited for these infractions.
The push for a new ordinance follows a trend of local governments taking notice of motorized bike safety.
Under current guidelines, e-bikes are generally required to remain under 20 mph, as vehicles exceeding that speed are classified as mopeds.
Cohn emphasized the need for a local solution to manage the current situation.
“We need to come up with an ordinance to somehow slow this down or stop it,” Cohn said. He noted that the town intends to have personnel available “to cite you for it and maybe have a penalty for them.”
Indian Trail town leaders are expected to hold a vote on the proposed ordinance next week.
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