(This was the #1 most read article online at WestNewsmagazine.com every single day from June 13-19!)
A topic quickly becoming prominent in the St. Louis region came before the Ballwin Board of Aldermen at its June 8 meeting – regulation of electronic bikes and electric motorcycles.
Ballwin Police Chief John Bergfeld had submitted a staff report prior to the meeting, which stated the department is responding to near-daily calls regarding the operation of these vehicles on city roadways and sidewalks.
“Since January 2026, the city has experienced five crashes involving motor vehicles and e-bikes or electric motorcycles,” the report states. “In each case, the e-bike or e-motorcycle operator failed to follow the rules of the road and entered a roadway, intersection or crosswalk without first ensuring it was safe to do so. Fortunately, most of the resulting injuries have been relatively minor.”
Current Ballwin ordinances do not adequately address such vehicles, the report states, and police are requesting the board authorize drafting of legislation to properly govern their use.
The staff report requests an updated ordinance consider the following points:
Define and classify electric bicycles, electric scooters, motorized bicycles, electric motorcycles and other alternative transportation devices.
Restrict class 3 e-bikes (pedal-assist and throttle-equipped bicycles with a maximum pedal-assist speed of 28 mph and throttle speed of 20 mph) to operators age 16 or older.
Require class 3 e-bikes to be operated on roadways and prohibit their use on sidewalks, multi-use trails and within city parks.
Prohibit electric motorcycles and Razor-style minibikes from operating on public roadways and within city parks.
Prohibit the operation of gas-powered minibikes and go-carts on roadways, sidewalks and in city parks.
Require helmets for all operators and passengers under 17 years of age.
Establish age, registration and licensing requirements as required by state law.
Prohibit reckless operation, towing behind vehicles and unauthorized operation on private property.
Establish enforcement authority and penalties for ordinance violations.
“As we’ve discussed at previous meetings, we have a problem with the motor bikes, e-bikes, scooters and all things that are happening with the kids and adults,” Ballwin Public Information Officer Shannon Schaper said. “After reviewing our ordinance, it was pretty broad. So, we did some investigation into Manchester’s ordinance and Town & Country – cities that are similar to ours, so we could see what they’re doing. We also have Ellisville. So, if someone is riding down Manchester Road, we don’t want to have an ordinance that is against the law here but they can do it there. We all feel like we need to be on the same page.”
Schaper said the city also needs to have strong ordinances regarding helmets.
City Administrator Eric Sterman said neighboring communities are still addressing the topic at varying speeds.
“It’s a common discussion point in recent weeks among my colleagues and the police as well, and every city has had to look at this issue because so many of these devices didn’t exist when the original ordinances were written, and there’s really a lot of confusion about what’s what, as in what’s an e-bike,” Sterman said. “There’s class 1 e-bikes, class 2 and class 3. Some of them have pedals, some don’t, some have motors. There’s just a lot of different types of devices that have come recently; sooner than our ordinances.”
Schaper said one of the major dangers of e-bikes is that most of the youngsters on them are not very familiar with traffic laws, including stop signs and yield signs.
Police Captain Curt Saitta said if someone is operating one of these vehicles on an actual road, perhaps that person should be required to have a driver’s license. That would likely also lead to the need for insurance somewhat similar to people driving automobiles and trucks.
“There’s also all types of caveats with these things,” Saitta said. “I’ve stopped people out here who were going more than 30 miles an hour, they have their little paper plates on the back. A good majority of them were revoked for DWI. Also, these vehicles are getting to be a problem with kids because they’re supposed to have a pedal to classify them as e-bikes. It’s also up to the parents. They buy their kids these things, and they don’t know how to ride them. They don’t know how to stop them.”
Alderman Jim Lehmkuhl (Ward 4) said the Parks Board addressed the subject at a recent meeting. He mentioned that kids were also riding in the park and onto the golf course, which can lead to very expensive damage.
Several aldermen agreed any legislation drafted has to include some type of legal response for children or their parents involved in violations.
Saying he was playing devil’s advocate, Alderman David Siegel (Ward 4) took a different viewpoint.
“We don’t want to discourage kids from being outside. I think as we move forward with something … we need to make sure there’s positive interaction while teaching the children and the parents,” Siegel said. “I understand about safety and everything, but we don’t want to get in the habit of discouraging children from being outside. I think we have had enough of that over the last few years.”
A motion passed for City Attorney Kyle Cronin to draft legislation on the topic.
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