HomeMy WebLinkAbout111225-04.1 BOB MITTELSTAEDT CORRESPONDENCEFrom: Bob Mittelstaedt <ramittelstaedt1010@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2025 9:17 AM
To: Marie Sunseri <cityclerk@danville.ca.gov>
Subject: Public Comment, For The Good of the Town, November 18, 2025 Town Council Meeting.
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My name is Bob Mittelstaedt. I’m a daily pedal-assist e-bike rider and retired law partner of
Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro, and Jones Day. I also co-founded E-Bike Access, a Marin-based
nonprofit focused on expanding safe access for legal pedal-assist e-bikes and removing
dangerous, illegal throttle e-motos from our streets and school campuses.
Over five months ago, this Town Council identified key actions to deal with its e-moto crisis,
e.g., working with the SRVUSD to address students bringing e-motos to campus and increased
enforcement by the DPD including impounding e-motos.
The task now is to implement these actions and to do so before tragedy strikes here as it has in
Marin and San Mateo. Here are our recommendations based on our work with officials in those
counties.
As a preface, educating the public through the Mayor’s videos and the Not My Kid program is a
step in the process. But the goal is not to teach our youth how to "safely" ride inherently unsafe
e-motos. It is to stop the sale and use of these vehicles. Enforcing current laws against e-motos
— with a Town + Schools + Law Enforcement partnership — is the only way to achieve that
end.
The Problem
As Danville has recognized and as the national bike manufacturers association recently
acknowledged, the controversy around “e-bikes” is actually driven by illegal, high-powered,
throttle-driven e-motos — not legal, pedal-assist e-bikes.
Local school surveys in Marin, San Mateo and Danville confirm what we all see daily: Our
youth are riding dangerous, high-speed, throttle e-motos that exceed 750 watts and 20 mph
capability. That means they are not e-bikes under California law and are not street-legal.
Why It Matters
• They are illegal without DMV registration, licensing, insurance and safety equipment.
• They are dangerous — in Marin, the 10-15 age group that rides them has 5X the number
of 911 calls compared to other riders on electric devices.
* ER doctors report injuries more consistent with car crashes — internal bleeding, fractures,
organ damage, and TBIs.
* E-motos damage public perception of legitimate e-bikes, threatening community adoption of e-
bikes for seniors, commuters, and climate goals.
What Works: A Simple, Phased Playbook
From our experience in other jurisdictions, this is our recommended approach for achieving
Danville’s goals.
� Count the problem
Conduct official counts on school campuses (as Marin and Contra Costa have done). Danville’s
informal counts already show that immediate action is warranted. But it would be helpful to
obtain official, more precise counts identifying the brands and quantities of regular bikes, e-bikes
and e-motos.
� Track injury data
Collect and publish age-specific and device-specific collision and injury data (bike vs. legal e-
bike vs. e-moto). This provides baseline metrics to evaluate education and enforcement
impact. As an example, Marin’s HHS department publishes 911 call data on its bicycle safety
dashboard.
� Form a unified enforcement partnership
Town + Schools + Law Enforcement, aligned publicly and operationally.
• Town Council: Declare it a public safety priority. Receive regular progress reports on
action items by Town Manager, school officials, law enforcement. Use the Not My Kid
website to publicize enforcement actions. Remove the video of youth riding e-motos
which creates misimpression that they are e-bikes. Or change the caption to “Make sure
your kid stops riding an e-moto.” Current version:
Add an interview with the Mayor that focuses on e-motos and helps parents understand how to
tell which brands cross the line from e-bike to e-moto.
* Schools: Ban throttle devices as school transport, as several school districts in Marin and San
Mateo have already done. E.g., Menlo Park City School District.
* Law Enforcement: Cite and impound when appropriate, including parent liability under VC
§14607 (providing vehicle to unlicensed juvenile) and Penal Code §273 (child
endangerment). Coordinate with schools. Periodic, high profile presence at opening and closing
bells. Publicize enforcement results to encourage compliance. See below for examples.
Additional Tools
• Request District Attorney to investigate consumer fraud by manufacturers and retailers
selling e-motos as e-bikes to unsuspecting parents; seek refunds for parents
• Encourage legislators to seek authority to set minimum age limits for throttle devices,
similar to AB 1778 authorizing Marin County and its municipalities to set minimum age
of 16 years for throttle e-bikes.
With these steps, Danville can solve the e-moto problem and enhance public and youth safety.
We are here to help.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Examples of social media posts to publicize law enforcement:
Example of school policy banning throttle devices:
https://www.ebikeaccess.org