ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office says deputies are being called to twice as many e-bike crashes this year compared to last year. In response, the sheriff’s office is stepping up enforcement and education efforts.
Deputy Gabe Bacolor is one of several deputies stopping young riders to explain safety rules and talk with parents. News4JAX rode along with Bacolor as he pulled over some teens and educated others.
The deputies hand out safety pamphlets and log violations in a new system created specifically for e-bike stops. Not all stops mean a rider is breaking the law, but unsafe riding or riding without a helmet gets recorded.
The crackdown comes as injuries and crashes surge.
Crashes more than doubled from 8 in all of 2024 to 20 by just June 11 of 2025.
Since the beginning of 2024, the sheriff’s office has responded to 209 e-bike incidents, which include something as simple as riding through a stop sign.
Those numbers reflect what Bacolor and other deputies are doing while out on patrol.
“It’s crazy,” said St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick. “You used to see one or two e-bikes here and there. Now you see them every day. I was at a stoplight, and an e-bike went by me at 40 mph. I’m like, ’What happened?’”
In one recent crash, a 15-year-old riding an e-bike had to be airlifted to a hospital after colliding with an Amazon delivery truck. The driver and rider reportedly didn’t see each other, Hardwick said.
In another local case, 12-year-old Parker Anderson fell off his e-bike when he wasn’t wearing a helmet and spent more than two weeks between Wolfson Children’s Hospital and rehab recovering from a fracture and brain bleed.
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Parker and his dad say the experience taught them a valuable lesson, and now the preteen says he makes sure his friends wear their helmets.
The sheriff’s office is also targeting “pegged” e-bikes — modified bikes that look like motorcycles and can exceed 28 mph. These are illegal on sidewalks and are not covered by current laws.
“The pegs are fixed on the side. It’s not pedaling. They go in excess of 28 mph, so that’s a different beast. They’re not covered by legislation at all,” Hardwick said.
Right now, deputies enforce existing bike, traffic and helmet laws. But St. Johns County commissioners are working on a resolution to educate children and teens about e-bike dangers before they start riding.
Bacolor emphasized the role of parents.
“It’s got to start in the home,” he said. “We want to see kids go home safe.”
The county will discuss the e-bike resolution again during the July 22 County Commission meeting.
