The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday, Aug. 11, to impose new restrictions on e-bikes, e-scooters and e-skateboards in unincorporated areas, capping sidewalk speeds at 5 mph and creating fines up to $500 for repeat offenders.

Supervisors proposed naming the ordinance after 4-year-old Ayden Everest Fang, who was killed Aug. 8, 2025, when a chain-reaction collision involving an e-bike sent a car onto a Burlingame sidewalk where he was playing with his parents outside a restaurant. The formal renaming will occur at a second reading that has not yet been scheduled.

Ayden's father, Xiaoming Fang, addressed the board Tuesday.

"No more children should be hurt," he said, according to SFGate. "The ordinance that's been discussed today is the first of many steps towards that goal."

The law takes effect in January 2027 and applies only to unincorporated county land, but Supervisor Jackie Speier, who spearheaded the legislation, said it was designed as a model for cities to adopt. She told the board that law enforcement and cities had requested the county create the framework.

What the ordinance requires

Riders of what the county calls "electric micromobility devices" must yield to pedestrians, signal audibly before passing and keep speeds at or below 5 mph on sidewalks. The law prohibits reckless riding that endangers others, tampering with serial numbers and parking bikes in ways that block sidewalks.

It also addresses a gap in state law: electric motorcycles built to resemble e-bikes but capable of higher speeds had previously fallen outside enforcement reach.

Fines start at $50 for a first violation, rise to $200 for a second offense within a year and hit $500 for additional violations in that same window. Minors who commit a first offense can complete a traffic safety education program instead of paying a fine. The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is developing that program and also gains authority to impound devices under the new law.

A year of work

The ordinance followed months of community input. In February, supervisors Speier and Ray Mueller co-hosted a town hall with medical professionals, legal experts and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, according to a Feb. 10 county post.

Deputy Chris Larsen of the Sheriff's Office told the board Tuesday that e-bike injuries mirror what deputies once saw only in motorcycle crashes, citing broken hips, severe head trauma and lacerations.

E-bike accidents statewide jumped from two in 2018 to 1,566 in 2024, according to a University of California, San Diego study cited at the meeting.

Supervisor Lisa Gauthier tearfully proposed the naming, telling colleagues she wished there were a way to put Ayden's name on the legislation "so that we don't have another Ayden in San Mateo County or anywhere else."

The board directed staff to formalize the name ahead of the second reading. Residents in unincorporated areas can contact the Sheriff's Office with questions about enforcement once the law takes effect in January 2027.