Suburbs look to state to resolve ‘confusion’ over e-bike and e-scooter rules

While individual suburbs should have a role in specifying local laws on e-bikes and e-scooters, they optimally would start from the state’s general guidance, according to a panel of experts at a Northwest Municipal Conference summit Monday.

But the absence of standard definitions and rules for a new crop of faster and more powerful motorized recreational vehicles is creating confusion among retailers, riders and regulators, panelists agreed.

“The state has to fill in the gaps with one set of rules that are consistent,” said Benjamin Schuster, a partner in the law firm of Elrod Friedman, which specializes in local government legal issues.

Dave Simmons, director of Ride Illinois, said his advocacy organization has identified the issue as its top priority for the 2026 legislative session.

“I think the state can really help solve this,” he said. “Because these things are new, regulation always trails.”

The summer months have resulted in a patchwork of regulations across an area of the suburbs that is sometimes contradictory. Northwest Municipal Conference staff said the highest concentration of these in Illinois is currently in the Northwest suburbs of Cook County.

Simmons said Ride Illinois’ recommendation to suburbs that haven’t taken action is to wait out the coming winter to see what the state legislature will do.

But Mount Prospect Trustee Terri Gens, who moderated the panel in her role as chair of the conference’s bicycle & pedestrian committee, said that’s difficult advice to take for officials responsible for public safety.

Other members of the panel included Schaumburg Transportation Director Sidney Kenyon and Deerfield Deputy Police Chief Brian Budny, both representing villages that felt they couldn’t afford to wait.

Kenyon and Budny spoke of the educational efforts that have been undertaken to educate about their new laws, from distributing cards printed with illustrated guidance to speaking with children and their parents through the school system.

Simmons said categorizing all untitled motor-driven electric recreational vehicles as either an e-bike or e-scooter is confusing the public.

Stores are selling people devices that may not be legal in their communities and the media reported a fatal crash in Arlington Heights last week as involving an e-bike when it was technically an e-moto, which is faster, Simmons said.

“That’s not doing anyone any favors,” he added.

The state defines e-bikes, but has none for e-motos.

“That’s the biggest problem right now, the confusion of what is what,” Budny said.

Schuster said it’s been difficult enough for him as an attorney to research the distinctions while drafting local ordinances, much less for anyone else not accustomed to so many nuances.

While he sees the state as being in the best position to bring clarity to the issue, his hope is that a desire to write a perfect bill won’t stand in the way of passing a good one.

Schuster hopes state legislators will provide the guidance necessary to create an effective starting point for local policymakers.