Given the popularity of e-bikes across the Beaches, it’s hard to believe that several years ago most of us were largely unaware they even existed.
But given the growing safety concerns amongst the local community, Council has been an early advocate for educating riders on safe e-bike practices.
An emerging problem
As far back as 2022 we became aware of community concerns around safety and the growing use of e-bikes across the area. Several local schools approached us seeking safety resources to share with students who were riding e-bikes to school.
Council advised state government that e-bike safety resources were needed to help educate a growing number of riders.
By 2023, public attention around e-bikes was escalating and it was increasingly apparent that many riders were school-aged children, with those under 16 legally allowed to ride on footpaths.
Our community was concerned for the safety of pedestrians and e-bike riders. Many young e-bike riders had a lack of understanding and experience of road safety, and riders were often seen not wearing helmets properly or at all, taking multiple passengers, and riding fast.
Enforcement limitations
We quickly became aware of some gaps in state government legislation. This limits what e-bike rider behaviours can be enforced by police.
Limitations and gaps
- Legislation states that the number of passengers must not exceed the number of ‘seats’, but it’s unclear how many ‘seats’ there are on an e-bike bench seat.
- There’s no speed limit for bikes and advisory speed signage for bikes is not enforceable.
- The rules on what legally constitutes an e-bike can’t be confirmed by looking at an e-bike, particularly if the default settings have been overridden.
- Children under 16 years of age can legally ride any bicycle on a footpath regardless of the size and weight of the bike.
What we did next
In 2023 Council:
- Began collaborating with Northern Beaches Police Area Command to educate e-bike riders and enforce safe riding along Manly beachfront.
- Provided information on our website and social media for parents and the community on the current rules for e-bikes and conducted a community e-bike awareness survey.
- Called on the NSW Government to review the NSW Road Rules to keep riders, pedestrians and motorists safe and deliver an e-bike safety campaign.
- Engaged a behavioural science agency to conduct research with young riders and their parents and provide strategic advice for an e-bike safety education campaign.
- Soft-launched Australia’s first ‘e-bike code’ in December 2023, ahead of Christmas. This first phase, appealed to parents considering purchasing e-bikes for their children. Our campaign used fun imagery of Santa on an e-bike to communicate safety messages and encourage parents to talk to their children.
Official launch: ‘Know the e-bike code’ campaign
In May 2024, we launched the ‘Know the e-bike code’ campaign.
Mirroring the surfer’s code, our e-bike code asks riders to make 3 simple actions when riding:
- Slow down
- Ring your bell
- Be ready for sudden changes to help everyone stay safe on footpaths.
The e-bike code was designed to make key safety messages memorable, cutting through to a notoriously hard to influence age group. Our strategy was to focus our messaging on the e-bike code and extend our collaboration to NSW Police, Bicycle NSW, bike shops and local schools to help the message better reach our young audience.
The campaign featured young e-bike riders following the e-bike code in a series of videos and photography sets. It ran across social media, online, print, email marketing and outdoor signage including along busy shared paths. Resources were also distributed through schools, bike shops and the police.
The campaign was largely successful, with many highlights: a media launch with over 2.78 million views, social media campaign reaching over 635K and QR codes from outdoor signage driving 30 percent of website traffic.
Importantly, our advocacy work and media attention in part lead to a first-of-its’-kind NSW Government inquiry into use of e-scooters, e-bikes and related mobility options to which we were invited to make a submission.
What next for 2024?
We continue to advocate for e-bike road safety on the Northern Beaches.
We have multiple events planned with Northern Beaches Highway Patrol planned for Manly beachfront, to educate and enforce safe riding.
In the lead up to the busy summer period, we will re-activate the visual and video elements to reach residents and visitors. We will also review our current footpath signage to support safer riding across our cycling network and investigate opportunities to develop further educational resources.