Carlsbad police have recorded 93 education-focused stops, 53 written warnings, 20 citations and 40 e-bike or e-motorcycle impoundments since the city's new e-bike laws took effect May 26, according to a city news release. The enforcement numbers, tallied through July 6, arrive as San Diego County builds a broader system to track e-bike injuries across the region.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday, Oct. 7, to create a regional e-Bike Injury Warning System, the County News Center reported. The system will pull crash data from hospitals, trauma centers, emergency departments, EMS providers and law enforcement agencies.
The numbers behind the vote are stark. Rady Children's Hospital reported pediatric e-bike trauma cases in the region jumped from three in 2021 to 262 in 2025, according to the county.
What the system will track
The county said the new system will log rider age, crash time and location, helmet use, device type, injury severity and patient outcomes. The county plans to publicly report regional injury trends on an ongoing basis.
Local officials currently wait as long as 14 months for statewide injury data to reach the region. The new system will close that gap so agencies can spot dangerous locations faster.
The project carries no additional cost. The county said it will use existing staff and resources.
Carlsbad's local crackdown
Carlsbad's e-bike ordinance prohibits riders younger than 12, bans e-bikes at Poinsettia and Pine Avenue community parks and allows temporary impoundment of e-bikes involved in unsafe activity, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The city's bicycle-related injury accidents peaked at 59 in 2023 and have since declined, according to the Union-Tribune.
The Carlsbad Police Department also launched an online reporting portal in June, allowing residents to submit photos and videos of dangerous e-bike riding. Through July 6, the portal had received 12 community reports.
Traffic Lt. Jim Willis said in June, when the portal launched, that the department's goal is to "improve safety for everyone using our roadways, trails and public spaces."
E-bike injuries rising statewide
A UC San Diego study published July 17 in the journal Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open found e-bike collisions statewide rose from two in 2018 to 1,506 in 2024, News-Medical.net reported. Among injured e-bike riders, 15.6% were 14 or younger, compared to 10.2% for traditional bicyclists.
Dr. John Austin, a general surgery resident and research fellow at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the study's first author, said in July that "e-bikes provide valuable transportation and recreational benefits, but their higher speeds can generate crash forces more comparable to motorcycles than traditional bicycles."
The county has not announced when the new tracking system will go live or when it will release its first public report. Carlsbad residents can submit e-bike safety concerns through the city's online portal at carlsbadca.gov or by calling the police non-emergency line at 760-931-2197.
