Amazon is removing listings for high-speed electric bicycles from its California marketplace following a series of fatal accidents and a state-level push to reclassify dangerous vehicles that retailers have been marketing as ordinary e-bikes.
The retailer's decision follows an April incident in Orange County where an 81-year-old man was struck and killed by a teenager riding an illegally operated e-motorcycle. The teenager's mother, Tommi Jo Mejer, was subsequently charged with involuntary manslaughter in what authorities said was a preventable death, as she had been warned the vehicle was illegal for her son to operate.
That tragedy prompted state Attorney General Rob Bonta and county district attorneys to issue a consumer alert clarifying California's electric vehicle regulations. Under state law, two-wheeled vehicles capable of exceeding 28 mph with pedal assistance or 20 mph using throttle alone are classified as mopeds or motorcycles, not bicycles. These vehicles require special licenses and have age restrictions, yet many retailers have been selling them as standard e-bikes to skirt regulations.
"Sometimes, what looks like an ebike or is marketed as an ebike is not a bike at all. We are seeing a surge of safety incidents on our sidewalks, parks and streets," Bonta said.
An investigation by KCRA 3 uncovered listings on Amazon for vehicles marketed as e-bikes that could reach speeds exceeding 40 mph. After the outlet contacted the company, Amazon removed those listings and pledged to enforce compliance requirements on third-party sellers.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who prosecuted Mejer, praised Amazon's action, noting that just days before the consumer alert, a 13-year-old boy died in an e-motorcycle crash. Spitzer cited sobering national statistics: more than 100 deaths across the United States have been attributed to e-bike and e-motorcycle accidents, with injuries in Southern California alone surging 430 percent over the past four years.
Author James Rodriguez: "The gap between what retailers call an e-bike and what regulators define as one has become a public safety crisis, and Amazon's shift signals the marketplace is finally catching up to the law."
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