I used to be strolling down a sidewalk in Chinatown with a good friend final month after we had been blindsided by a rushing electrical scooter. We had been turning proper at an intersection when a teenage rider bumped into her, knocking her onto the pavement and launching himself onto the facet of the roadway.
My good friend suffered intensive bruising that also hasn’t absolutely healed, whereas the rider narrowly prevented being struck by a automobile. Just a few fast net searches advised the incident was a part of a better native pattern.
As of June 8, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division has responded to 10 deadly accidents involving e-bicycles or e-scooters to this point this yr—up from simply 4 via this level in 2024 and matching or surpassing the 2022 and 2023 totals. Many non-fatal instances additionally go unreported, in response to a 2022 report from the Nationwide Transportation Security Board.
The hazards are clear. A 2024 examine from UC-San Francisco discovered that, among the many greater than 86,000 nationwide reviews involving these automobiles from 2017 to 2022, the variety of respective e-bike and e-scooter accidents elevated yearly by about 100% and 45%, respectively.
Policymakers in Clark County and Henderson just lately took steps to handle the problem by approving new ordinances regulating e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards, off-road bikes and related automobiles.
Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones led the push to ascertain new insurance policies for the Strip and the county’s parks and unincorporated areas after an announcement about park enlargement plans led some residents to succeed in out about extreme e-bike rushing at Mountain’s Edge Regional Park. The modifications handed unanimously on Might 6 and took impact Might 21.
“It’s one thing that’s very prevalent in Southern Nevada and throughout the county, and we actually wanted to repair this concern earlier than we moved on to enlargement,” Jones says.
The county now categorizes electrical automobiles based mostly on class, limits operators to fifteen miles per hour and customarily prohibits any e-bikes in parks except they characteristic pedal-assist know-how—that means they nonetheless require some human effort to function. All e-bikes and e-scooters are banned on the Strip and in different unincorporated county lands except explicitly specified by way of signage.
In county parks, all minors should put on a helmet, whereas riders of all ages must equip a bell or horn, entrance lighting, rear reflectors and ample brake methods. First-time violators face a $150 high-quality, with subsequent offenses starting from $300 to $600. Dad and mom and guardians are additionally held chargeable for underage speeders.
Joe Cantalicio hosts a youth security seminar at his retailer WheelZen Rides in Las Vegas on Might 3.
Jones additionally needed to increase the ordinance to county roadways however says they lacked authority resulting from present state regulation.
“There are provisions in statute that restrict how far native jurisdictions can go. We talked to legislators, however it was type of too late to try to put one thing like that collectively final minute,” Jones says, referring to Nevada’s legislative session that ended June 3.
The Henderson ordinance, which handed in December, prohibits most motorized bicycles, scooters, skateboards, bikes, filth bikes and go-karts in its parks and non-designated trails. Electrical bikes are additionally banned on public roadways.
Henderson’s park ban additionally doesn’t embody e-bikes with pedals however differs from Clark County in that it applies to any private electrical automobile with a throttle, Henderson Assistant Director of Group Improvement and Companies Ian Massy tells the Weekly.
“We’ve had severe accidents. We’ve seen them on the information across the complete Valley. We’d like dad and mom to be concerned and perceive that these are motorized automobiles which have the identical danger of damage and demise as a automobile,” Massy says.
Henderson Police Sgt. Richard Paul would additionally like to have the ability to implement on public roads. Town noticed two e-scooter fatalities in these areas final yr, whereas Paul says the HPD has responded to 23 e-bike and e-scooter collisions to this point in 2025.
“It’s changing into an increasing number of prevalent as know-how is changing into cheaper. Extra younger adults and unlicensed drivers are working this stuff simply as should you had been in a automobile, which creates an unsafe setting,” Paul says.
With out state intervention, Paul is proscribed in his capacity to assist curb the problem. If he does make a cease, he says he takes the chance to coach the rider and make contact with a mother or father in the event that they’re underage, including that the HPD additionally works with native center faculties to advertise security.
Rider schooling stays paramount. The LVMPD hosted its personal security occasion for younger riders final month, whereas Boulder Metropolis began a program in April. Joe Cantalicio—proprietor of the Las Vegas-based electrical automobile outlet WheelZen Rides—launched a recurring youth security seminar on Might 3.
Cantalicio personally knew 22-year-old Christopher Soto, who was using an e-scooter together with his 14-year-old brother, Carlos, on March 24 when he was struck and killed by a automobile close to Heat Springs Street and Torrey Pines Drive. Soto died on the hospital, whereas his sibling was critically injured.
“To be trustworthy, I had a chat with my spouse about how I nearly really feel like I ought to simply shut it down. I don’t need blood on my fingers. That’s not why I opened this store,” Cantalicio says.
As an alternative, he determined to assist mitigate the dangers via schooling, with the subsequent security seminar coming someday in July. Though he nonetheless touts small electrical automobiles as environmentally pleasant and financially inexpensive, he additionally says they’ve grown more and more highly effective in recent times—with some “high-performance machines” able to reaching as much as 80 miles per hour.
“They should begin regulating them in response to energy or motor dimension and transfer towards an open-type registration system,” Cantalicio says.
Till then, native officers are utilizing the authority they do must hold riders protected.
“This isn’t the answer. It is a step in the direction of bringing consciousness and schooling,” Massy says.
Click on HERE to subscribe at no cost to the Weekly Repair, the digital version of Las Vegas Weekly! Keep updated with the most recent on Las Vegas live shows, reveals, eating places, bars and extra, despatched on to your inbox!
