City of Waverly holds off on e-bike ordinance in order to perfect final plan

WAVERLY, Neb. (KLKN) – The Waverly City Council held a public hearing on Tuesday night to discuss rules around electric bikes, scooters and motorcycles.

This is its second public hearing on the matter and ultimately, the council members decided to hold off on approving the proposed ordinance in order to get it right.

After several e-bike and e-scooter accidents have occurred across the state, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s department says a good plan is critical for prevention.

“We want to deter fatalities and serious injuries before they happen and it’s not a matter of if, it’s when, and they have happened,” said Deputy Jason Brownell.

Waverly City Council President David Jespersen says it’s not about taking anything away from kids, but rather about prioritizing public safety.

“We want to make an ordinance that makes sense for Waverly and all of its community members. We want to make sure we are putting in an ordinance that makes sense for the device as well,” said Jespersen.

“We actually are breaking down the different types of e-bikes that are out there so that the smaller ones will have less ordinances on it, but the faster ones will have more things tied to them because they go faster. A lot of these vehicles can go as fast as a car,” he said.

Parent Brandi Erickson says what concerns her the most is age restrictions.

“We don’t get school permits until we’re 14. We don’t get driver’s licenses until we’re 16. I feel like with the e-bikes and the scooters and the streets that they go and where they can go, I just feel like there should be something more,” said Erickson.

In regard to age, Jespersen had this to say.

“We want to make sure that younger kids are using them on sidewalks. We want to make sure if older kids are using them on streets, that they’re following the right traffic laws that already exist for everyone else, and they know to follow those laws,” he said.

Parent Kristin McQuistan says usage should be on a case-by-case basis.

“If you feel like your child is responsible and mature enough to use one of these properly and in a safe way, going to be looking out for traffic, then that should be that parent’s choice to determine it,” said McQuistan.

“And then, if the child does get in trouble or isn’t ‘following regulations then some of that blame should come back to the parents,” she said.

Jespersen isn’t arguing with that.

“What we’re looking at right now in the proposed ordinance are misdemeanors, and so they would be tickets and a lot of them would actually potentially go to the parents,” he said.

Other council members at the meeting unanimously agreeing with the decision to hold off on approving the proposal for the sake of more thoughtful consideration.

Deputy Brownell saying, “I don’t want to come back here and say, ‘here’s how many kids were seriously hurt, or God forbid, here’s how many fatalities in the community’,” he said.

Brownell also indicated that the Sheriff’s office is already working with the City of Waverly, as well as other communities to help kids and parents eliminate gray areas around electric modes of transportation.

You can check out Waverly’s proposed e-bike ordinance here.