Oceanside plans to crack down on reckless electric bicycle riders following a surge in resident complaints.
The city first adopted an ordinance regulating e-bikes in 2024. But complaints about unsafe e-bike riding more than doubled last year, and the Oceanside Police Department (OPD) said they've gone up more than 1,200% since 2021, when there were 69 complaints.
Police report 918 complaints in 2025.
“We haven't seen much of a decrease in our calls for service and community complaints,” Capt. Scott Garrett said.
The increase prompted the City Council to consider an amendment that would let police seize e-bikes from offenders.
The deluge of complaints from residents includes reports of teenagers popping wheelies and darting in and out of traffic. Garrett said handling these complaints is a burden on police resources and time.
He said that because the current regulations don’t seem to be working, OPD went back to the drawing board.
“We decided that using utilizing temporary seizure of e-bikes would provide a sufficient and immediate deterrent for a lot of the youth,” he said.
The amendment would also ban “double riding,” with two people on an e-bike, unless it's equipped with a passenger seat.
Garrett said the biggest offenders are older teenagers, which is why Oceanside isn’t banning e-bike riders under 12 like other cities have in recent months.
One of the hot spots for reckless e-bike behavior is at Mance Buchanon Park. Some residents call the riders "the Mance Buchanon Maniacs."
“They’re yelling and screaming as they go and riding around in packs,” Mike Shannon said. “They are pulling the bike up, doing wheelies. I see two and three on a bike. A friend of mine got knocked over, got hurt pretty bad.”
Shannon agreed with the bike seizures. He called it a safety issue.
“That seems like a good solution to it," Shannon said. "I mean, these kids need some safety guidance. Some safety rules, regulations.”
The other hot spot for violators is the Oceanside strand. Sherri Young, who walks the Strand almost every day after work, said she has witnessed some of those unsafe behaviors.
“I see them speeding up and down the strand and swerving around pedestrians, strollers, dogs," she said.
But she doesn't think police should be confiscating e-bikes.
“Education is probably the number one thing that will help, stop some of the reckless stuff,” Young said.
Police said this is more about safety than confiscating the bikes. And by doing so, they hope people will receive the message and be safe on the road.
Riders would be able to get their e-bikes back after completing a safety course and would not incur any impound fees.
The City Council is expected to give final approval to the amendment on Wednesday. Enforcement would then start 30 days later.
