CHERYL KELLY, San Clemente
Probably no one was happier than I when the San Clemente City Council finally voted to ban e-bikes from the Beach Trail.
For the first couple of weeks, those signs at the beginning of every trailhead warning of $100 fines if caught on the trail with an e-bike seemed to be working.
But, with no enforcement to be found anywhere, the word has apparently gotten out to the scofflaws. I was out of town for about a month, and when I returned to the Beach Trail, I’ve seen e-bikes, and no one is stopping them.
Just last week, there was an older man and a younger guy riding e-bikes on the trail, but under pedal power. I thought no e-bikes meant no e-bikes, period.
Then a couple of days later, a younger man on the trail near North Beach was going full motor power.
But it gets better.
The same day on the Mariposa footbridge, I heard a speeding e-bike coming up behind me and stepped out of the way, as did two women walking on the opposite side of the bridge. Screaming past us was a purple-haired young woman not even attempting to slow down. And bikes are supposed to be walked on the bridge.
With no enforcement, school is out, and this is just the beginning of summer, so it is just going to get worse.
What good is putting a law in place if no one is there enforcing it?
