Clarence, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Clarence Town Board approved on Wednesday amendments to a local law that provides local law enforcement the ability to take away vehicles like e-bikes, e-scooters, and other electronic or gas vehicles from anyone that has been deemed to be operating those vehicles recklessly on designated town roads or paths.
In a unanimous vote from the Town Board, the town says anyone deemed to be operating an e-bike recklessly and in violation of any of the foregoing rules and regulations shall could face a fine not exceeding $250, be imprisoned not exceeding 15 days or both.
In addition, those individuals caught creating such a risk of harm to people or property may have their particular vehicle taken to a garage, pound, or other place of safety where it shall remain impounded.
Clarence Town Supervisor Pat Casilio says some of the calls from residents he has heard with these violations involves people recklessly riding electronic or gas-powered dirt bikes on sidewalks, roadways and even bikepaths.
"We have complaints from our residents that they are driving past them quickly. We had one clocked at 53 miles an hour, and even if they have some sort of warning device, they're moving so fast that our residents can't react," said Casilio following Wednesday's Town Board meeting.
"I think eventually we do not want electric dirt bikes, something with a throttle. That's why we mentioned. We don't want electric dirt bikes on our bike trail. We don't want gas-powered dirt bikes on our trail. We do welcome e-bikes because it has pedals. If you have pedals, and that's our basic rule: If you have pedals, everything's fine. But if you're running an electric dirt bike 50 miles an hour down our bike paths, we don't want you on our bike paths."
Casilio feels law enforcement agencies serving the Town of Clarence have already stepped forward and pursued people, usually young people, that have been operating certain vehicles recklessly, and that's even before the law change that took place Wednesday.
"It was highlighted, the fact that an officer in a patrol car really can't chase down four people. It's easy for them to run away, and we don't want them running away into traffic and hurting themselves either. It's when they become 1-on-1, where they can have a discussion with somebody and possibly contact the parents. If that doesn't work well for them, then they have the right to have the vehicle taken away from them by a towing service," Casilio said.
Before the Town Board voted to approve the amended changes to the local law, the town offered the public a chance to speak on a number of matters pertaining to e-bike safety.
For Harris Hill resident Kathy Campagna, she attended Wednesday's meeting to seek clarity on what exactly constitutes as an e-bike that could be in violation with these new amendments to the law.
"E-bikes can include a lot of different bikes, bikes with throttles. Ours is a pedal-assist e bike, and I never want to be caught using the e-bike on the path and falling in non-compliance with the law," said Campagna following the hearing. "We use helmets, we have lights, we have a bell. We use bike etiquette, and we're very careful with that. We avidly ride from our homes in Harris Hill to Akron Falls several times a week, and I just came here to be sure that I got compliance with the law so that we have no problems when we're riding our bikes."
However, Campagna still feels this new amendment does not provide a clear definition or context of what constitutes an e-bike that would be in violation of this law.
"There's various classes of e-bikes. We have a Class I, which is you have to have pedals, and you can't exceed a certain speed. And you have to have lights, and there's rules. That's what I want: clarity. That's why I made the comment, 'Well, if I am stopped, I'll be visiting Lawrence [Meckler], because he's the [town] attorney. I just want to be sure that if they don't provide clarity to the definition of an e-bike, we have some defense if we are caught riding an e-bike on the path."
One possible solution Campagna brings up that can provide some of these younger kids somewhere to put their energy into and keep them out of trouble on bike paths and other local roadways is a bike park.
"If they did put a bike park, the kids would have somewhere to go instead of congregating in Clarence Center, because you have so many developments there that are loaded with children. They all end up at the candy shop, the pizza shop and the ice cream shop right there. You can't help but have problems there," she said. "They need somewhere to go. These kids are good kids, and they just need somewhere to go."
Another local resident, Wendy Merkle, is also frustrated with the local kids that are often the ones in violation of recklessly riding their electronic vehicles around town.
"This law is really to help law enforcement be able to do something about the kids, because we can't get the parents to engage. A lot of these kids are in single parent households, and I believe this is an expensive community to live in," Merkle said. "A lot of our kids can't launch, they can't buy a house. I know that my two kids, if I hadn't helped them, they probably wouldn't be living in the town in which they grew up. It's expensive to live here, and these parents are struggling to make ends meet. And they're latchkey kids who know they cannot be punished, they can't be arrested, and they know it. And they are taunting the community."
Frank DiDario from the Village of Akron is another avid e-bike rider utilizing the Clarence Bike Path quite often. He, too, agrees that a problem the Town of Clarence faces is with its kids riding recklessly.
"I ride a recumbent bike, so a three-wheel bike which goes about a top speed of maybe 28 miles an hour. And that's with the pedal assist. Now, any person who's a young, strong or one of these guys on one of these racing bikes that you see, they're doing over 30 miles an hour, and you see them on the bike path all the time," DiDario said. "When you say that it's the speed too, they're not reckless, but they come up on people too, and those guys never say anything. They don't have bells on their bikes, and they never say anything about passing anybody. They're just, 'Boom!'"