The city of Carlsbad voted unanimously Tuesday to ratify an emergency proclamation declared last week in response to a spike in crashes involving bikes and e-bikes.
In the seven days since the City Manager declared the traffic emergency, the police department has issued about four times as many warnings and citations as a typical week, according to the city.
Ratifying the declaration isn’t just a promise to increase traffic safety someday. It releases $2 million leftover from last year’s budget to make improvements right now. Those projects include increasing traffic enforcement, new message boards, speed feedback signs, a new traffic safety training program offered by the city and a safe driving and riding education program.
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Despite all that, many speakers at Tuesday's city council meeting were hoping for emergency measures with more teeth.
"You can save $2 million and apply that to the building of roundabouts if you would just say these vehicles could be impounded," Glen Bernard, who's been in a collision with a car while on a bike, told the council.
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Bob Embree, whose wife recently died after colliding with an SUV while riding an e-bike. Their 16-month-old daughter Delilah was also on the bike wasn't injured.
"I want no one to suffer like I do," he said. "I couldn’t imagine if I lost my daughter, too. So if we could slow traffic down where kids are going to school that would be great.”
Embree blames speeding cars and disconnected drivers for the increase in collisions.
"Roundabouts and speed bumps will force people to re-engage with the road. You can’t text and go through a roundabout," he said.
The city cites a 233% increase in traffic collisions involving bikes and e-bikes since 2019. Since the beginning of 2022, there have been 57 collisions involving bikes and e-bikes reported in Carlsbad. Of the collisions this year, two have been fatal crashes, both in the past 17 days according to Carlsbad city manager Scott Chadwick. Worth noting for its impact on statistics is that e-bikes are relatively new and ridership is likely increasing year over year.
Carlsbad is cobbling together a roadway plan. It started Tuesday with the green striping of a bike path on Carlsbad Boulevard for better visibility. On Sept. 27 the council is promising a more comprehensive plan with an emphasis on road safety.
Now that the declaration is ratified, it needs to be reviewed by the council every 60 days until it ends the local state of emergency.
Among other ideas being tossed around are teaching bike safety in schools, requiring an operator's permit for e-bikes, and ticketing. Carlsbad's Chief of Police is urging parents to help their kids find the safest route with the least amount of traffic to get to their destinations.
In May, Carlsbad enacted a series of laws in the hopes of creating a safer environment for people in the North County city, according to city officials. The regulations targeted unsafe operators of e-bikes and bikes, as well as motorized scooters and other similar vehicles, including Segways and electrically motorized skateboards, city officials said. Violators will receive a citation or, in some cases, be offered the option to take a safety course.
The new ordinance directs operators to "ride with care and to reduce speed when needed for safety"; forbids passengers riding on handlebars or other areas of motorized devices not specifically designed for additional riders; and prohibits attaching secondary devices, like an additional bike. In addition, riders are banned from sidewalks, ditches, sports courts or gyms, and they also must get off their bikes, e-bikes and other devices on any trails narrower than five feet or if they're within 50 feet of a pedestrian or person riding on horseback.
