by Beth Kassab | Feb 20, 2026 | City Commission, County News, Police and Public Safety, Schools
New Rules for Electric Bikes and Scooters In the Works for School Campuses
Winter Park residents turned out to a community meeting this week to hear an update on safety as complaints about the fast motorized devices have soared. Orange County schools are considering new rules
Feb. 20, 2026
By Tilly Raij
With new rules at the state and school district levels still uncertain, about two dozen people gathered this week to discuss how to make electric bikes and scooters safer in Winter Park.
City Commissioner Craig Russell led the community meeting Tuesday and walked residents through a primer on current regulations and etiquette that could reduce accidents and close calls on sidewalks and roads.
“If you don’t know how to operate the device, my suggestion is don’t get it for your 8-year-old,” said Russell, who is also a teacher and coach at Winter Park High School. He said he has seen students injured on the electric devices.
He emphasized that parents often don’t know the rules when their children begin riding.
The meeting followed increasing complaints from residents about people riding bikes and scooters too fast and recklessly on roads and sidewalks, especially near school campuses.
Orange County School Board member Stephanie Vanos, who also spoke at the meeting, said new rules could be on the horizon across the district.
She said options under discussion include requiring parents and students to take a class and sign an agreement related to riding and parking on campus, similar to the agreements high school students sign to drive and park cars on campus.
Vanos, who represents Winter Park in District 6, said students would receive a sticker to place on their device to show they participated in the training. Faculty members also have communicated with students about electric scooters and bikes.
“Right now, no, there is no requirement that students have to take any kind of education, or parents, but I will say that at many of our schools, particularly some of our middle schools and high schools, the principals are sharing information on e-bike safety and scooters with the students,” Vanos said.
Earlier this month, the school board heard a presentation noting survey results that show nearly 12,000 students ride bikes or scooters to school in Orange County. While most schools require students to walk their devices on campus, only about half issue violations to those who fail to do so.
In addition to permit stickers, district staff members recommend adding rules to the Code of Conduct and installing new signs on campuses requiring students to dismount bikes and scooters.
Last year, the school board held a discussion and presentation on the soaring popularity of bikes and scooters. Since 2017, electric scooter injuries in the U.S. have surged by 400%, with Florida ranking among the top states in emergency room visits for such injuries, staff members told the board at a November work session, citing data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Accidents involving children younger than 15 have more than doubled since 2023.
Russell’s presentation this week also covered rules governing e-scooters and e-bikes in certain areas of Winter Park. The devices cannot be ridden on sidewalks in the Park Avenue area known as the Central Business District, Hannibal Square and the Orange Avenue Overlay District.
Carelessly transitioning from sidewalks to roads, crossing crosswalks without looking for oncoming vehicles and ignoring pedestrian signals are among the most frequent safety concerns involving local riders, he said.
Russell shared best practices and described the “Be KIND” acronym for remembering how to properly operate an electric scooter or bike. The letters stand for “keep your eyes up, initiate courtesy, navigate safely and do the right thing.”
Adriana Rodriguez, senior transportation engineer for MetroPlan Orlando, told residents the organization is working with the American Bicycling Education Association to create a series of educational modules aimed at 500 students ages 12-15. Topics will range from safety to road rules and will incorporate graphics and illustrations, ending with a quiz. Students will receive a certificate of completion, and the results will be analyzed by grade level to determine whether the initiative should be expanded.
With about three weeks left in the regular session of the Florida Legislature, officials also are waiting to see whether new state laws emerge.
Proposals — Senate Bill 382 and House Bill 243 — that initially would have required licenses for certain classes of electric bikes have been scaled back to create a safety task force and include provisions such as: “A person operating an electric bicycle on a sidewalk or other area designated for pedestrians may not operate the electric bicycle at a speed greater than 10 miles per hour if a pedestrian is within 50 feet of the electric bicycle.”
Provisions related to motorized scooters were removed from the proposals.
Russell said education will remain essential to improving safety.
“Our goal is simple — to keep our kids safe, our sidewalks safe and our community involved,” he said.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
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by Beth Kassab | Jan 15, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety, Schools
Have Complaints about Electric Scooters and Bikes? Meeting Scheduled for Next Month
Plus Blue Bamboo’s leader offered a short update on the group’s financial status in the wake of multiple changes at the organization operating at the city’s old library
Jan. 15, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Residents who have questions or concerns about safety related to electric bikes and scooters, which have soared in popularity in recent years, are invited to attend a community meeting at Winter Park Community Center on Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m.
The meeting comes in the wake of a rising number of accidents and concerns surrounding the motorized devices that are increasingly common in and around school campuses.
Commissioner Craig Russell, who is also a teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, has taken the lead on the topic with a series of safety videos aimed at students and parents and, now, plans for a larger community discussion.
Russell said at Wednesday’s City Commission session that the meeting in February will be about sharing the facts and providing any available updates on the Legislative session, where a proposal (HB 243 and SB 382) is being debated that would put more regulations on e-bikes and scooters and their often young drivers.
“I just want to continue with our public safety effort,” Russell said. “It’s not going to be me telling parents what to do. It’s an informational session.”
The Voice reported last month that Orange County School Board members tossed around potential new regulations such as requiring licenses, training and speed limits at a meeting in November.
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, staff told board members, citing data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. These accidents have more than doubled since 2023 for children under 15.
Update on Blue Bamboo
Commissioners heard an update on Wednesday from Jeff Flowers, who is leading the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts project that is leasing the city’s old library building.
The group’s founder Chris Cortez died last month after a short illness with glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer.
Flowers, a chemist and arts philanthropist who served two stints on the Maitland City Council, noted the challenges the group has faced with the loss of Cortez and difficulty finding tenants for the second and third floors of the building. He said there have been three “very serious” sublease prospects, but no deals yet.
“We are in serious discussions now with another,” he said. “It’s not there yet, but it looks good.”
He said the Blue Bamboo tallied 8,300 people attending shows over the past six months and $180,000 in ticket sales. He said revenue totaled about $340,000 including concession sales and donations.
The Blue Bamboo is required to pay the city $132,000 a year in rent for the building, an amount scheduled to rise to $276,000 next year, according to the lease agreement.
The group has access to a $900,000 grant from Orange County for additional work on the building, but is required to raise matching funds and was counting on help in the form of fundraising and rent from Central Florida Vocal Arts before that group walked away from the deal in August when it was not satisfied by the terms of the sublease offered by Blue Bamboo.
Flowers has loaned Blue Bamboo more than $1 million so far to retrofit the first floor of the building into a performance space and other work.
“The message is look, the Blue Bamboo is here to stay,” Flowers told the commission. “We’ve surmounted every barrier thrown at us.”
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio thanked Flowers for appearing at the meeting and quickly moved on to the next topic after no other commissioners offered any comments or asked any questions.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
CORRECTION: The original version of this story included the wrong location and time for the meeting on e-bikes and scooters. The meeting will be held at Winter Park Community Center at 5:30 p.m.
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by Beth Kassab | Dec 31, 2025 | City Commission, News, Police and Public Safety, Schools
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.
An OCPS presentation detailed the different devices students are commonly using on campuses.
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.
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