Jacksonville’s e-bike crackdown: Lower speed, stiffer standards

E-bike riders in Duval County will soon have to follow a new set of rules that city officials say are meant to keep e-cyclists and pedestrians safe.

The Jacksonville City Council unanimously approved the new regulations for electric bicycles this week. The new rules will go into effect 60 days after they’re signed by Mayor Donna Deegan.

Ordinance 2026-0570, filed by council member Michael Boylan, sets a 15 mph speed limit for e-bikes on sideways and requires e-bike retailers to post the new city rules in-store.

The 15 mph speed limit is a significant reduction from current city rules, which limited speeds to 28 mph, near top speed for many e-bike models. The bill requires riders to abide by all traffic regulations including posted speed limits.

“It raises the awareness of the importance of common sense to some extent to say, ‘Hey, if you’re on the road, you have to follow accepted regulations and laws as to operating an e-bike on a public thoroughfare,’” Boylan told Jacksonville Today last month.

He said wanted to make sure riders are “providing sufficient awareness to pedestrians on the sidewalk that you’re approaching them,” he said.

Boylan’s bill requires riders to: 

• Provide an audible signal –  like a bell, horn or verbal signal – before passing a pedestrian and pass in a safe manner at a safe distance from the pedestrian,
• Yield the right-of-way to pedestrians at all times,
• And comply with all traffic signs and intersection signalization.

It will be against the law for e-bikes to drive in a “careless, unsafe and/or reckless manner” in a bicycle lane, bicycle path, bikeway, right-of-way, roadway, sidewalk or shared-use path.

The bill gives these and other examples of what’s considered reckless behavior:

• Unsafe passing.
• Performing stunts or maneuvers that reduce rider control.
• Operating in a manner that creates an unreasonable hazard to pedestrians or other lawful users.
• Weaving through traffic.
• Leaving the roadway to avoid traffic signals.

Boylan says he drafted the rules after a surge of injuries in e-bike and e-scooter crashes in the last four years.

As e-bike and e-scooter grew in popularity as a primary mode of transportation, so have accidents and injuries. Wolfson Children’s Hospital treated three patients for e-bike and e-scooter-related injuries in its trauma center in 2022. By 2025, that number had increased to 115. 

As of July 30, Wolfson had treated 106 patients so far this year for e-bike and e-scooter injuries. Of course, the full picture could include more injuries.

“These numbers only reflect patients who are injured badly enough to need to be transferred to Wolfson Children’s Hospital for care and/or who need to be admitted to the hospital for their injuries,” hospital spokesperson Melissa Seguin said.

For e-bike retailers, the city will provide signage that includes a QR code linking to the new regulations on the city’s website. Officials say business owners can get them at Transportation Planning Division offices or download them from the city’s website.

Chris LeDew, the city’s chief of traffic engineering, told council members on Sept. 14 that the city would need to post “several dozen” e-bike speed limit signs in order to be able to enforce the new restriction.

LeDew said federal standards recommend placing speed limit signs at city limits, neighborhood borders and the entry points to business districts.

City officials say the new signage would cost $5,000 to $10,000. Boylan has introduced additional legislation that would open funding originally approved in 2023 for traffic calming to pay for the e-bike speed limit signs. That bill could be up for a final vote by the end of the year.

No statewide e-bike rules

Boylan said he first started looking into strengthening Jacksonville’s e-bike rules in October 2025, but he hit pause after e-bike bills filed in the Florida House and Senate would have restricted riders from going faster than 10 mph within 50 feet of a pedestrian. The statewide limits would have come with a $100 fine.

Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the legislation in June, citing concerns over enhanced surveillance by local governments with the likely use of speed detection and cameras to enforce the law. 

City Council members Will Lahnen and Ron Salem initially echoed concern from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office about the difficulties in enforcing the speed limit and unsafe driving components of Boylan’s bill, as well as the cost for new speed limit signs. 

But both lawmakers ultimately supported the regulations. 

“It’s not a perfect bill,” Salem said. “…It’s a start, and I think we need to start somewhere”