Youth Misuse of Electric Bikes Receives Official Scrutiny
- Philip Thibodeau
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Pleas from local residents for the town of Southington to do something about young people wreaking havoc on electric bikes came through loud and clear at last Thursday’s meeting of the Ordinance Committee.
The challenge the committee now faces is to decide what, if anything, to do about it. Members floated ideas that ranged from impounding vehicles to levying fines. However, a final decision was put off to give the committee more time to consider whether such measures would be legal, enforceable, and effective.
The meeting opened with a public comments session that picked up where the last session left off at the committee’s August 20 meeting.
Mary Barbagallo described an incident that she had experienced the previous Saturday at the Southington Drive-In. She said that a young person on an e-bike cut through the drive-in area, defying both signage and verbal warnings from herself and the other volunteers who were managing parking at the event.
Colleen Clark also recounted the incident and added that she often encounters groups of young people on e-bikes while jogging in Recreation Park. She said that, in her view, the situation across the town is turning into “the Wild West.”
Other speakers brought up the July 10 attack on a motorcyclist by a group of youths riding various kinds of bikes on Route 10, expressing alarm at what they regarded as a slow police response. Ann Marie Conaty stated that even though Plainville had notified the Southington Police Department about the group of youths once it crossed the town line, no units arrived to confront it until the riders had made it past downtown. “I’m worried,” she said, “that if nothing is done about this, pretty soon someone is going to be seriously injured or killed.”
Amidst the calls for action, Norm Berg asked the committee to observe a distinction, pointing out that not all electrically-powered two-wheeled vehicles are created equally. Many people, he said, including his wife and himself, ride bikes with an electric assist. He said that these expand the possibilities of outdoor recreation, and that most riders use these machines responsibly. Berg identified ‘e-motos’ – small motorcycles with electric motors – as the more serious hazard.
The Ordinance Committee addressed the issue later in the meeting. Chair Tony Morrison noted that the group was circling back to concerns previously raised in the spring, at which time it was agreed that the police department should collect data on e-bike incidents, to define the scope of the problem.
Southington Police Captain James Armack then summarized the data his department had gathered. It showed a sharp increase in calls about e-bikes from 2024 to 2026, with the total number more than doubling from 31 to 80. He also reported that the peak time for such incidents was between 3 and 6pm – not coincidentally, after school gets out – and that they tended to concentrate on Center Street, Main Street, Queen Street, and Meriden Waterbury Turnpike.
Armack also spelled out some considerations that he said the committee should keep in mind while debating new e-bike rules. He recommended that the town build on exist state regulations of e-bikes, rather than devising new vehicle classifications, which would create confusion for officers trying to enforce the rules. He said it was important to remember that police cannot simply seize property from private citizens, and added that if there was an ordinance that involved impounding, the bikes would be impounded by towing companies, not the police.
Armack also stressed how important it was for officers to be able to exercise their discretion when deciding how to deal with youthful offenders on e-bikes.
Finally, he noted that, in his experience, juvenile courts typically dismiss cases involving youths who are charged with violating municipal ordinances. For that reason, he said, the committee could more productively focus on measures that impacted their parents or guardians.
Committee Member Joshua Serafino urged the town and the committee to move with as much urgency as possible. He floated the idea of imposing an escalating series of fines for e-bike misuse, culminating in vehicle impoundment. Member Stephen Kalkowski urged a similarly strict approach, and suggested setting a fee of $1,000 for recovering an impounded vehicle involved in an infraction.
Member Denis Bougie drew the committee’s attention to a state law, Public Act 25-80, that he said gives municipalities a free hand to craft ordinances in this area.
Public Act 25-80, which became law in June 2025, was passed in large part to deal with the problem of street takeovers. While it does not expressly mention e-bikes or electrically-powered vehicles, it does specify how municipalities may regulate all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes, and mini-motorcycles. The text may be found here.
The discussion wrapped up with a statement from Town Attorney Lou Martocchio III that he would do research before the next meeting to determine how much freedom the town actually has to regulate e-bike misuse and to see what neighboring communities were doing.
