Are Electric Scooters and Bikes Too Dangerous for Schools?
Orange School Board members and Winter Park officials say more safety measures are needed
Dec. 31, 2025
By Tilly Raij
Stricter rules over electric scooters and bikes on school campuses – or even a temporary ban — are slated for discussion next month as officials from Orange County Public Schools and Winter Park grapple with soaring injuries and accidents attributed to the high-speed vehicles.
School board members tossed around potential new regulations such as requiring licenses, training and speed limits at a meeting in November. Stephanie Vanos, the member who represents District 6, which includes Winter Park, said she recognized that regulations involving the devices can be challenging to carry out.
“It’s hard to enforce speed when some of these don’t even have speedometers. It’s hard to enforce licensure because they come from anywhere,” said Vanos, who raised the idea of a temporary ban of electric scooters and similar devices until a more complete evaluation of the situation is done.
OCPS Superintendent Maria Vasquez suggested a ban could be the easiest way to enhance safety without shouldering school staff with the extra work of enforcing new rules while a larger safety plan is explored.
“…I don’t think we want to prohibit them on our campuses, but if we’re looking at the conditions that currently exist, that’s probably the one action we can take that doesn’t add more burden to our staff while we are looking at other options,” Vasquez said.
The comments came in response to a presentation last month from Joe Silvestris, who leads the school district’s Office of Safety and Emergency Management.
Since 2017, electric scooter injuries in the U.S. have surged by 400%, with Florida being a top state in emergency room visits for such injuries, Silvestris told the school board at a November work session, citing data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. These accidents have more than doubled since 2023 for children under 15, he said.
Lack of helmets, poor infrastructure, and rider inexperience and poor behavior were some common causes of scooter-related trauma that Silvestris listed. It was also noted that collisions involving distracted drivers, particularly newly licensed high schoolers, are prevalent on OCPS campuses. The district has previously provided guidance on these vehicles in the Deputy Superintendent Newsletter and on ParentSquare, an app used to send messages to families. The district has also partnered with Bike/Walk Central Florida to deliver safety presentations in schools.
But electric bikes and scooters are so common now that some school and city officials say more is needed.
Winter Park City Commissioner Craig Russell, who is a teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, said he has seen first-hand the dangers of electric scooter accidents and has worked with Winter Park Police on a safety campaign aimed at students and parents.
“A student in my class now has to withdraw and do Hospital Homebound because he was hit by a car [while] riding his e-scooter,” Russell said. “I think as a community we need to learn more about the scooters as a tool. We have to empower ourselves with knowledge of not only how to operate them, but how to teach our kids how to operate them properly and know the rules of the road.”
While some policy makers are worried about the dangers of electric scooters and bikes, many students see them as an essential part of daily life to get to school, work, sports practice and other activities.
“They’re not dangerous because if you really know what you’re doing and if you’re aware of your surroundings, you really can’t go wrong,” said Marco Malave, a sophomore at Winter Park High who uses his e-scooter to get to school and extracurricular activities. Although Malave has had accidents with his scooter before, he doesn’t believe licensing or a ban are needed as long as simple rules are created to “keep everyone safe.”
School Board member Alicia Farrant, who represents District 3, which runs from downtown Orlando south to near Walt Disney World, questioned the idea of a ban at the November meeting and suggested more safety education would suffice.
“As the school district, our place here is really to educate parents, educate the community on what is happening…but I don’t know that it is our duty as a school district to eliminate something completely, and I would be more in favor with each school having more of a say in…their area,” Farrant said.
District 2 member Maria Salamanca, who represents Lake Nona, advocated for rules governing scooters and bikes to be added to the OCPS Code of Student Conduct, which currently doesn’t mention the motorized devices.
“I have seen a really large uptick of very dangerous accidents with scooters on the way to school and very near to campus,” Salamanca said. “I think one of the things I’m seeing a lot, specifically in high school as well, is very young drivers who are distracted and then very fast scooters who are on their phone, and they crash in or around campus.”
Board Chair Teresa Jacobs expressed the need for a thorough course of action if rules are not followed.
“I would look along the lines of what is already not allowed, increase the limitations hopefully at a statewide level, and then use the authority of our Code of Student Conduct to put in place consequences for those students who are violating those,” she said.
When the Florida Legislature convenes in January, at least one member is already pushing a bill to require operators of high-speed versions of the devices hold a license and pushes for other safety measures like collecting and maintaining data on electric scooter and bike accidents.
Under HB 243 filed by Rep. Yvette Benarroch, R-Naples, operators of Class 3 e-bikes, which can go up to 28 miles per hour, would be required to have a learner’s permit or driver’s license.
“I filed this bill because government’s first duty is to protect the people,” Benarroch said, according to the Florida House’s informational page about the bill. “Freedom comes with responsibility, and when public safety is at risk, we have a duty to act. Guided by the Constitution and common sense, this bill protects lives, preserves liberty, and does what’s right for all Floridians.”
Potential new rules for school campuses are expected to be discussed at a meeting for Orange County principals in January. And Russell is planning a community meeting for parents and students in Winter Park.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Tilly Raij is a sophomore at Winter Park High School. Her work has been published in The Community Paper, J Life Magazine and The Wildcat Chronicle.
I have had to follow several packs of preteens on electric bikes and electric scooters clogging up regular roads around Winter Park. They don’t yield to traffic, don’t wear helmets, have no license, have no lights or turn signals and many have no respect for the cars trying to get around them. I have also followed these electric bikes and scooters while they’re going 30 miles an hour or even faster. Something needs to be done about this!
I don’t know about issues on campus, but in our neighborhood we’re seeing a huge increase in e-bikes and e-scooters flying down city streets, 2x to 5x faster than regular bikes, with no regard to stop signs, crossing traffic, pedestrians, and etc. Many of these are being ridden by kids no more than 7 or 8 years old. We stopped one boy, about 6 years of age, driving his electric mini car on Lake Knowles Circle, heading for Temple Drive, with no adults in sight. Maybe all the electric transports should be banned for kids under 18?
Thank you for this informative article, Tilly Raij. You presented several sides to this complicated topic. As a student yourself, you see firsthand the pros and cons of these relatively new modes of transportation.
Although car drivers are rarely physically hurt, it’s terrifying when someone on an electric scooter whips in front of a driver and he/she has to slam on the brakes. It’s especially scary when it’s dark outside and the scooter has no lights. I pray steps can be taken to reduce the number of accidents. I realize it’s complicated and there are no simple solutions.
It’s not complicated. The simple solution is to ban them in Winter Park.
Regulating student use of electric bikes and scooters is a good first step toward controlling these vehicles on all of our city streets.
Let’s be thankful that years ago our city commission had the foresight to reject electric rental bikes and scooters such as Lime in our city.
My family enjoyed the lights around Lake Eola in Orlando the evening of December 29. But the electric bikes and scooters were darting everywhere, over the walkways, over the grass, silent in the dark going 20 mph, sometimes in groups.
New technology is not inherently bad, but it does call for new regulations. i’m glad Winter Park is being proactive about this.
This is such an important topic. Thank you for keeping us informed.
I have encountered e-bikes going at a high rate of speed on sidewalks in Winter Park. Some e-bike riders assume pedestrians can and will get out of their way. Having high speed e-scooters and e-bikes traveling on sidewalks instead of in bike lanes is a problem.
Thank you for this article. I have seen children loaded down with a backpack, lunch bag, musical instrument and another bag barely able to navigate an e-scooter nearly run over when they took a spill in the road. I have experienced multiple instances of young riders not following road signage, cutting in and out of traffic, riding in packs and generally not demonstrating command of their bike/scooter at high speeds.
Alas, I despair of our future generations. Riding a mechanical bicycle was one of the pleasures of going to school. Now, unless it has a motor, it appears that it no longer is useful. I ride the pedestrian-bike trails a lot, and often experience the flagrant disregard for common courtesy and safety by the users of these vehicles. My suggestion would be to treat these motorized vehicles the same as automobiles, and license the operators.
It’s alarming that discussions regarding motorized “bicycles” rarely if ever focus on parental responsibility. This article is a prime example. Why isn’t this the the first and most relevant point of the piece?
amen to steve!!!
Bingo. Once again schools or some government agency are expected to deal with behaviors that parents are unwilling or incapable of doing. Sigh.
Try sitting on Winter Park Rd 100 ft, north of the Corrine Dr intersection, when Audubon lets out, as an example of how bad it gets. I’m not sure what the normal speed of a bike being pedaled is, but e-bikes need to be restricted to no more than that speed until kids get a driver’s license. They also need some formal training to use them at any age.
If parents are going to let their kids (with zero home training) run feral through the neighborhood, and teach them nothing about safety and road rules, why should I care if they end up learning a very painful lesson?
Unfortunately, Morgan and Morgan makes sure I care. If one of these unsupervised hellions ends up crossing in front of my vehicle, gue$$ who$e fault it’$ going to be? Not the biker actually at fault, but hey, that’s life in 2026.
Stand up scooters going 10 plus mph on sidewalks seems normal, and I am always wondering who would allow their children to do such a thing every day. If parents have no brains, and clearly, they do not, the city needs to take action to reduce risks for the kids, and to protect us from the inevitable legal mess over a death.
The problem is that today’s riders ( whether on an e-bike or not ) seem to have no knowledge of the “rules of the road” .
I recently encountered 4 young cyclists riding abreast without helmets , in the wrong lane and turning from that lane without signaling. As they cut in front of me they yelled that cyclists had the “right of way” .
Glenridge Middle has a sign at the entrance of the parking lot that e scooters/bikes need to be walked into the lot. No riding on campus. Why isn’t that an OCPS rule?
I have no issues with them. The only danger is and always will be cars. Cars kill pedestrians, they kill cyclists, they kill kids on e-bikes, and they kill passengers in other cars. Every resident in Winter Park is more likely to be seriously injured by a car than a kid on a scooter. Its irrational to flip the narrative on this.