DENVER — As the new Colorado e-motorcycle law takes effect, officers in Commerce City, which has had a similar ordinance in place since March, recently issued tickets to three kids and their parents for e-motorcycle-related violations.
“This ordinance specifically applies to off-highway vehicles. So, these are ATVs, dirt bikes, and kind of this newer vehicle that we've been seeing, which is an e-motorcycle, which is essentially like an electric dirt bike,” Joanna Small, Commerce City Police Department’s public information officer, said. “It doesn't have the safety mechanisms required to be on the roadway. You need to be a licensed driver to drive one on our roadway. You need to have insurance. You need to have registration and a bunch of different safety features to make those road legal.”
An e-motorcycle is different than an e-bike. E-bikes have less power and can only reach 28 mph.
Small said the officer noticed three minors doing dangerous wheelies on e-motorcycles on East 104th Place.
“They were engaging in dangerous driving behavior, which is why there was a careless driving tacked on to the tickets that they got,” Small said. “The officer cited those juveniles for not having a driver's license, not having registration, not having insurance, and then the parents received a ticket as well for allowing an unlicensed minor to operate a motor vehicle. And that's the same ticket that we give if you allow your child to drive a car when they are unlicensed.”
Small said the department has issued a lot of warnings about e-motorcycles, but not many tickets.
“Only a handful, and there's a couple of reasons for that. One, these bikes are very hard to catch. They're very fast. They easily elude police officers. We're not going to engage in a dangerous pursuit to follow an e-motorcycle through our city, possibly causing harm to other people on the roadway. And then, two, this is largely complaint-driven. People in neighborhoods are very upset about these bikes and the reckless driving behavior associated with them,” Small said.
Small said Commerce City police officers responded to a crash back in July where a child on an e-motorcycle ran a stop sign, ran into another vehicle and was seriously hurt.
Small said the police department will continue to work to educate kids and parents about e-motorcycle use and safety rules.
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