On Monday, nearly 300 students and parents from schools in Carlsbad and other North County cities learned about bike safety from certified instructors with the Carlsbad Police Department.

The City of Carlsbad and Carlsbad Unified School District teamed up to host four classes to help students get ready to ride their bikes of e-bikes to school safely, with lessons such as:

• The rules of the road for bike and e-bike riders
• Carlsbad specific e-bike laws
• Signs and signals and what they mean
• Where to ride in specific situations, including on neighborhood streets and busy corridors

Monday’s classes were the first in a series of more than a dozen classes that the Carlsbad Police Department will host this summer at Carlsbad schools. Registration is not required, and the classes are free and open to anyone wanting more information about e-bike safety – students, parents, friends and neighbors.

The Carlsbad Police Department has been working with the four school districts that serve Carlsbad to increase traffic safety, especially with the dramatic increase in students riding e-bikes. This collaboration led to the creation of a new bike permit program in the Carlsbad Unified School District, which will include training provided by Carlsbad police officers.

Students who attend school in Carlsbad Unified School District and participate in these classes will receive credit toward a bike permit. The permit program is managed and enforced by Carlsbad Unified School District.

Background

The City of Carlsbad declared a traffic safety state of emergency last August following an over 200% increase in bike and e-bike collisions since 2019. Since that time, the city has made improvements to over 90 miles of local streets, increased traffic enforcement, expanded the school crossing guard program, reprioritized traffic safety related projects and worked with school districts to explore potential bike permit programs. The Safer Streets Together program focuses on increasing public education, re-engineering city streets and increasing enforcement of the rules of the road.