New Law Could Require New Fines and Data Collection on Electric Bikes and Scooters

Lawmakers approved the measure earlier this month and it is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature. Locals hope the changes are a first step toward better safety.

March 30, 2026

By Gabrielle Russon

Local officials concerned about electric bike and scooter crashes and near-misses in Winter Park said a new bill is moving in the right direction to improve safety.

The Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 382 this month. The bill is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature in order to become a law and go into effect.

State lawmakers said the bill is necessary following a series of crashes across the state that killed young people.

“While nothing can undo the tragedies that brought us here, I believe some good will come out of this,” said state Rep. Yvette Benarroch, R-Marco Island, fighting back emotion on the House floor before the final vote on March 9. Benarroch had sponsored the House companion bill.

SB 382 would set in motion a statewide task force to create recommendations by Oct. 1 related to how to regulate “micromobility devices” like e-scooters and e-bikes that travel slower than cars but faster than pedal bikes. The task force would report back to DeSantis, Florida Senate President Ben Albritton and Florida House Speaker Danny Perez.

Orange County School Board Member Stephanie Vanos, who represents Winter Park in District 6, called the bill “a good first step” but added one concern is the task force is missing school leaders’ voice.

Vanos had urged lawmakers to pick an educator to join the task force since so many e-bike and e-scooter users are children to and from school. 

“This is an issue really affecting the schools the most,” Vanos said. 

But lawmakers ignored her request after she testified in Tallahassee during the 60-day legislative session.

The members of the task force will instead include representatives from the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, Florida League of Cities, Florida Association of Counties, someone from the medical field with experience treating pedestrian injuries and a representative from an organization focused on rider safety.

Vanos said she hopes the task force recommends how to better educate young riders, which she called an essential element for improving safety. 

Children currently are not required to go through rider safety training and don’t need any certification or permit to use an e-bike or e-scooter. Some as young as elementary or middle school are driving them.

One provision in SB 382 had been stripped out from the final bill version that would have required a valid learner’s drive license or driver license for anyone to ride a Class 3 e-bike, which goes up to 28 mph. 

Orange school officials discussing that issue had raised concerns about how schools would know if student e-bike riders had the right credentials and also brought them to school every day, Vanos said.

Orange County government is scheduled to discuss e-bike safety at a May 19 work session and has been working with the school district, Vanos added.

Vanos also hopes the state task force tackles recommendations for making infrastructure improvements, like wider sidewalks so riders and walkers have more room to co-exist.

Under the bill, Winter Park Police Department would be required to start documenting e-bike and e-scooter crashes to help the state officials better understand the scope of the problem.

Currently, law enforcement agencies report the crashes differently, making it difficult to get uniform statistics statewide.

All local police departments and sheriff’s offices around the state, as well as the Florida Highway Patrol, would need to report each crash’s date, time, the micromobility device rider’s age, if he or she had a valid Florida learner’s driver license or regular license and more.

Vanos praised the bill for trying to collect more data.

“That’s a really good first place to start,” Vanos said. “What do the accidents look like? Where are they? What are the ages of the children? What time of day? … What type of micromobility device are we seeing the most accidents on? I do think that those are important things.”

Finally, the bill would also allow police to issue $30 nonmoving traffic violations if an e-bike goes faster than 10 mph on a shared path with pedestrians 50 feet away. E-bike users would also be required to yield to pedestrians and give an audible warning before passing them.

If the bill is signed into law, “it doesn’t change the way we police them, but it does change the fact that we can ticket them now,” said Winter Park High School Resource Officer Lindsey Ellison. “It gives us more enforcement which is something that we do need because there are unfortunately bad eggs out there that choose to not abide by the law. This gives us more ammunition to give them consequences.”

Ellison said the fines put more pressure on parents to be vigilant that their children obey the law.

At his job, Ellison looks for rule breakers and is known for keeping a snack stash to pass out to hungry teens. Regularly, he reminds students to wear their helmets and slow down. Usually every week, he gets a complaint about an e-bike or e-scooter from a pedestrian who said one zoomed past her on the sidewalk or a teacher driving to school who was cut off by one.

The problems mounted as e-bikes and e-scooters have skyrocketed in popularity in the past few years.

If 200 Winter Park High students ride bikes and scooters to school, about 90 of them are electric, Ellison estimated. Ellison added they are owned by students, so the devices are not the kind you can rent around town.

“The reason they want to pass bills like this is to keep people safe. It isn’t to add more regulations and more red tape for you not to buy these e-bikes,” Ellison said of SB 382. “We want people to buy e-bikes, we want them to enjoy them. We just want them to do it as safely as possible.”

Vanos, Ellison and MetroPlan Senior Transportation Engineer Adriana Rodriguez spoke at a recent Winter Park community meeting to help parents better understand the rules, the dangers and the different types of micromobility devices.

MetroPlan is launching a pilot program this year to pay for online e-bike safety training for 500 students in Orange, Osceola and Seminole school districts. No Winter Park schools are currently involved, but Rodriguez said she hopes the pilot program will expand so more young people can participate and learn how to ride safely. 

She added the public can also pay $34.95 to sign their children up for the same training through the American Bicycle Education Association.

AdventHealth Winter Park does not track the number of e-bike injuries, but one doctor said medical professionals are treating head injuries, upper extremity fractures and abrasions as the most common injuries from crashes “As an emergency medicine physician, I’ve seen firsthand how important helmets are,” said Dr. Mitchell Maulfair, the Winter Park hospital’s director of emergency services, in a statement. “As e-bikes have become more popular, it’s important to remember that they’re capable of higher speeds, which can increase the risk of injury if riders aren’t taking proper precautions.”

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