Police in Herriman offer back-to-school reminder about new Utah e-bike law

HERRIMAN — Police joined administrators at Providence Hall Junior High School Thursday to share an important reminder with students and parents about Utah's new e-bike law.

The law, which went into place on May 6, requires riders under the age of 21 to wear a helmet while traveling on public roads.

The law also clarifies differences between e-scooters, e-bikes and e-motorcycles, defining e-motorcycles as having over 750 watts of power and being capable of traveling at speeds over 20 miles per hour.

For those, the law requires riders to have a driver's license.

"It is a safety issue," said Herriman Police Operations Commander Marcus Beckstead during a news conference outside Providence Hall Junior High. "We're seeing a lot of injuries, fatalities and just really bad things happening in our community when it comes to these e-bikes and e-motorcycles."

Jason Mettmann with the Utah Department of Public Safety Highway Safety Office encouraged parents to take an active role in educating kids.

"That means stopping for stop signs, observing intersections, following the signs and signals that are out there," Mettmann said. "A lot of 8-year-olds don't have a lot of practice with the driver's handbook. You need to make sure and practice those skills with them and supervise them as they ride."

Next year, additional changes require children ages 8 to 15 to either operate e-devices under the supervision of a parent or other adult, or to complete an online safety course to ride without adult supervision.

Mettmann said already this year there had been over 1,100 accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists statewide, resulting in 35 deaths.

Officials also shared 2025 statistics from Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital, which saw a 66.7 percent increase in a single year in e-bike injuries to children and teens.

According to the data, only 40 percent of those kids were wearing helmets.

After school, officers spoke to kids and parents and distributed branded safety lights as reminders.

Liz Starley, a parent and board member, said she continued to see troubling road behavior in her neighborhood.

"We have so many e-scooters and e-bikes going around, and it's kids that aren't paying attention, that don't stop," Starley said during an interview with KSL. "It's scary. You don't want anything to happen to them."

Beckstead said his department was moving beyond education to enforcement.

"We're to the point where we're going to start enforcing the law and making sure we're holding people accountable," he said.

Starley urged parents to do their part to help their kids be safe.

"Nobody wants to hit a kid," Starley said. "With these young kids that are on these really, really fast scooters and bikes, they need to be educated on how to do it safely."

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