For all you E-bike fans....

SAN CLEMENTE — In response to complaints about riders speeding along the city’s popular beach trail on electric bikes, San Clemente officials are planning to step up enforcement — citing those riding at excessive speeds or otherwise operating their bicycles recklessly.

The City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 21, voted 4-0 in favor of an ordinance that calls for ticketing bicycles ridden in excess of the posted 10 mph speed limit and agreed that all bikes should be prohibited on the beaches during the summer.

Enforcement of the new ordinance will be done by city-hired park monitors, the city’s Marine Safety Department, and Orange County sheriff’s deputies when they are available. Specific fines, and exact summer bike restriction dates, are yet to be determined.

The ordinance is set for final review at the council’s Sept. 4 meeting.

Currently, all bicycles — including electric — are allowed on the trail but are restricted in certain areas at various times of the year. From June 15 until Labor Day, bicycles are prohibited from being on the trail from the pier to Trafalgar Canyon Bridge. From Labor Day to June 14, bicycles can be used everywhere except for the Riviera and Montalvo bridges.

“I’m struggling with this. How do you assess 10 miles per hour in a meaningful way?” said Mayor Tim Brown. “I’d like to see us give folks the ability to cite anyone that is unsafe. The citation has to be meaningful. It has to be something that will hurt a little bit. We should give folks that monitor this discretion. I’m against an all-out prohibition.”

The council decided to allow electric bikes (except “type 3” bikes, which can reach 28 mph) along the 2 1/2-mile beach trail that runs from North Beach to San Clemente State Beach. City officials are following state law enacted in 2016 that made it legal for electric bicycles to be treated the same was as non-electric bicycles. The law made it possible for cities to create their own regulation.

“We’re the only ones with a beach trail,” said Samantha Thomas, the city’s recreation manager. “It’s not a boardwalk like Newport Beach has or even what Laguna Beach has. We’re the only one with a narrow trail directly on the beach.”

Tuesday’s vote follows earlier discussions by the city’s Beaches, Parks and Recreation Commission which in April voted to prohibit electric bicycles unless they were being used to assist someone with a disability. The commission’s review came after complaints from beach trail users who said some electric bike riders were speeding.

Most residents who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting supported greater enforcement of the 10 mph speed limit. Others wanted to see electric bikes prohibited altogether.

“Don’t add more regulations. rather enforce the ones that exist,” said resident Brenda Miller. “I’ve had people tell me they were going to walk Dana Point Harbor because they were treated like slaloms — that’s not acceptable. The beach trail is the only opportunity to have a beautiful, quiet experience. Let’s keep in mind it’s a tremendous resource. Don’t let a few spoil it for everyone.”

Resident C.L. Snider said electric bikes should be disallowed, referring to them as motorized vehicles.

“Two-and-a-half million people use the beach trail a year,” he said. “That means there could be 10 million arms and legs that could be hit. If you enforce the rules and laws, including no motorized vehicles, that would include electric bikes.”

Mike Dollar, a lifelong user of the beach trail, also pushed for enforcement.

“I’m a daily user there, either walking, biking or pushing my grand-kids,” he said. “Let’s enforce the laws and set a speed limit.”

 

I think this is a great example of the slippery slope people are worried about with e-bikes. Something that was kinda' below the radar is now front and center due to their prevalence.

IMHO, The coastal trail in S.C. is really hard to ride on a bike if you are at all trying to be considerate of pedestrians. It's full of people at all times of the day. Some are joggers, some elderly, lots of kids and families. As long as you are content with going really slow, it's a nice cruise. But as soon as you try to add speed, via leg or battery, it's not a good situation. And e-bikes are everywhere in S.C. Kids, surfers, tourists. Storefronts selling and renting them it seems on every block. I know the town is hilly, but sheesh...

San Clemente e-bikers:

 

I am not familiar with the trail. But sounds like the type of place to ride a beach cruiser...at 10 MPH tops. Not an eBike...or even a roadie like I have!

 

This is the problem with Ebikes in trails that are popular with hikers and horses. The speeds on the flats and climbs are a danger.

 

Enforcement of the new ordinance will be done by city-hired park monitors, the city’s Marine SafetyDepartment, and Orange County sheriff’s deputies when they are available.

Of all of these, I'd bet only OCSD is POST trained. Meaning the others cannot detain or cite someone.

 

We tried this in San Diego back in the 90's for the boardwalk in Pacific & Mission Beach. They spent money on a study to determine that a "safe" maximum speed for bicycles (and skaters for that matter) was 8 mph which is supposedly twice the speed of a walker. In any case, the 8 mph limit was posted all over on the boardwalk. Most of us knew that the idea was like pissing into the wind.
They tried to have motorcycle officers use radar but those tickets were thrown out of court because the boardwalk wasn't a roadway where a speed survey was done. They then tried the "if it takes you X amount of time to get from Point A to Point B, you were going X amount of speed" and those tickets were thrown out for being a speed trap.
They then dropped the whole thing and told us to stop enforcing it after an officer on a bicycle chased down a female skater who was speeding and then refused to stop. They probably hit warp speeds of 15 mph in the pursuit. The chase went down the boardwalk and ended with the officer leaping from his bike and tackling the girl in some ice-plant along the side of the boardwalk. As is frequently the case, none of what led up to the arrest mattered and all that mattered was 1000 people saw a female get arrested for skating. The outcry was too much for the city council to bear and enforcement was dead after less than one Summer season.

 

Curious how that works here, and how it will work in this particular scenario, which sounds like a real clusterf***... I've never been law enforcement, but I have written citations for underage smoking, and a few other specific infractions. Long, long ago in a land far far away...

 

Our lifeguards in San Diego *can* write citations for certain violations, we even have some with full law enforcement powers. I know San Diego and Carlsbad both have civilian rangers responsible for certain areas that can write citations as well. Carlsbad has two rangers that patrol an area known as Calaveras and are authorized to write BICYCLE violations.

 

Was she hot?

 

She wasn't bad but the competition is pretty stiff (pun intended) down there. There's a lot of women to distract your attention. Here is a photo from the 4th of July one year...the one holiday I actually LOVED working. So much chaos!!!

 

Egads! My personal proximity sensor just went haywire!
Too many people, too close! That just can't be a good time.

 

Yeah...I would rather head up to SART or something where I can scream, and no one will hear me. If I want that kind of crowd, I'll go to Skypark!

 

Uh yah, no can do.

 

That looks awful

 

That doesn't look anything like my version of fun.

 

Some crowded beaches are better than others.

 

There was a scene like this in The Meg and I wondered if there were actually beaches that crowded. This answers my question.

 

ugh...to be single again

 

It helps when you're getting paid decent money. Our normal shift was 10 hours. We did a minimum 16 and 20 a couple years (due to chaos) so we got time and a half for anything over 10 PLUS it was a holiday so it was like 2.5X our normal pay rate. One year where we did 20, there was a pursuit and subsequent crash that closed one of the two exits out of Mission Beach so people sat in gridlock for 4+ hours after the 9 pm fireworks. We were stuck as well....but getting paid to ride around on mountain bikes. Another year, we had a stabbing at SIX AM by a local Navy sailor....all over parking space.

 

That wasn't me, I swear. I was busy getting asked to leave the Hotel Del.

 

I need 1000 "like" buttons for this!

 

432561

 

You missed one....

 

I am pretty good at what I do, so I think not.

 

I assume your rank order?

 

My system is a little different. I would rank:

111111

I'm not that picky.

(little girl gets a 0. Sorry, must be 30+ to ride)

 

LOL, I did not even see the little girl. Yeah, she is unranked.

 

Yes, that was my drunken post for the evening. Still looks accurate even while sober though.

 

Local ordinance can authorize non-sworn personnel to enforce all or parts of the local municipal code and write infraction and even misdemeanor citations. You do not need to be POST certified to do this although most agency do require the minimum level of POST certification (PC 832) so they have some assurance that their folks understand how not to violate civil rights, etc.... A misdemeanor citation or Notice to Appear is actually an arrest but the "bad guy" signs the citation and promises to appear in court in lieu of being taken in to custody. That's where it gets dicey for non-LEO folks like rangers or code enforcement officers tasked with writing these as they don't usually have the training, equipment or ability to take someone in to custody, and have to call the cops for assistance. Most local cities/counties have begun using administrative citations instead of criminal citations for these kinds of ordinance violations which are essentially a civil fine and completely outside of the judicial/court system. Also a bit dicey for non sworn folks because if someone refuses to ID themselves or cooperate, what will the non-sworn public officer do? a) call the cops, b) let the person go and do nothing.....probably option B because by the time the police would arrive for such a low priority call, it would be the next day. I'll bet enforcement of this e-bike thing would take the form of many friendly warnings but no real enforcement per se.