"E-Moto" Safety Assessment - San Ramon Valley Unified School Distict (November 1, 2025)(PDF)

Executive Summary – Rising E-Moto Crisis in Local Middle Schools

On October 30, 2025, volunteers from Danville Safety Advocates and E-Bike Access conducted a field survey across seven middle-school campuses in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD). The findings were stunning: more than 200 high-powered, throttle-assisted electric motorcycles (“E-Motos”) were parked in student bike corrals and ridden by children as young as 11.

At Stone Valley Middle School alone, 71 E-Motos were counted compared to only 11 traditional bicycles — a dramatic shift that reflects how quickly this trend is expanding. TV New Story: 70 E-Motos at Stone Valley Middle School 

These throttle-activated electric two wheelers are not bicycles. Because their motors are larger that 750watts and/or capable of providing assistance above 20mph - the legal limits for throttle (class 2 e-bikes), they are motor vehicles. They require DMV registrations, insurance, safety equipment such as mirrors and turn signals, and a valid driver's license.

Yet these machines are being marketed and sold to families as "e-bikes," leading parents and students to believe they are legal for middle-school use.

Eleven-to thirteen-year-olds are operating these machines daily in middle schools zones, on sidewalks, along community trails - without licenses, training, or legally required safety equipment. Despite repeated warnings, school outreach, police advisories, and growing community concern, the trend is NOT slowing. It is accelerating across at least four SRVUSD middle schools.

Key Findings

E-motos are no longer a fringe issue or temporary trend - they are rapidly becoming a primary mode of transportation for middle-school students in our community. Without coordinated intervention, numbers will continue to rise, and the risk - to children, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers - will escalate. This problem is not isolated to one campus. Counts of out-of-class devices (E-motos) at middle schools in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District:

Every trend line points upward. Education alone is not working. Assemblies are not working. Warnings are not working. Despite repeated school outreach and advisories from law enforcement, the number of high-powered E-Motos on middle school campuses continues to rise at an accelerating pace. The situation will not improve on its own. Because schools are giving the appearance of condoning this illegal conduct, it will only grow.

What is now happening each morning across our school district is unprecedented: campuses are being used as informal staging areas for unregistered motor vehicle operated by minors without licenses, without legal right of operation, and often without helmets. These machines move quickly through congested pedestrian environments where young children walk, parents drop off students, and school traffic is at its peak.

Injury data already shows that children between 10 and 15 are five times more likely to be injured on these devices than any other age group. We are approaching a public-safety breaking point, where a serious injury or fatality is no longer a hypothetical risk but an inevitable outcome. It is, however preventable, if we act now.

The data is now clear, undeniable, and urgent.  We call on this community to shift from awareness to action, from platitudes about safety to concrete solutions. Inertia and buck-passing must be replaced by a productive partnership among schools, law enforcement, and local government. Schools, law enforcement, and local government must establish clear policies, enforce existing laws, and act decisively to protect children and the public. It's not just a matter of whether children under 16 can ride these vehicles. They are illegal for anyone of any age to operate on public streets, and sidewalks. Schools should not accommodate them. Retailers must stop marketing them as e-bikes-bicycles. Parents should recognize that it is a crime for them to endanger their children or allow unlicensed juveniles to drive motor vehicles including emotos.

Law enforcement must learn to recognize the illegal e-motos and intervene when violations occur. These illegal vehicles congregate at our middle schools five days a week. That is a prime spot for enforcement, with a school/law joint effort. The community canonot wait for the first tragic headline to respond - we must act now, together, to ensure student and pedestrian safety before lives are put at risk.

Conclusion - Accountability, Enforcement, and Immediate Action 

This crisis in not emerging - it is here. Every school day across the San Ramon Valley, 11 to 13 year-olds operate high-powered electric motorcycles on sidewalks, crosswalks, student drop-off lanes, and school corridors.

These vehicles require a license, registration, and training - yet children ride them illegally through the most vulnerable pedestrian environments in our community. And it does not stop at campuses; these same E-motos tear through neighborhoods and downtown Danville, endangering residents, shoppers, seniors, and families who simply expect to walk safely in their town.

Awareness is not the problem. We have awareness. What we lack - and urgently require - is enforcement and accountablity. Assemblies and warnings have not slowed the trend; they have coincided with an explosion of growth. Awareness without enforcement has become permission.

SRVUD must immediately stop allowing illegal motor-vehicles on school property. Schools cannot welcome E-motos into bike corrals and simultaneously claim safety is their highest priority. (photo below: Stone Valley Middle School).

71 E-Motos at Stone Valley Middle (Oct 30, 2025)

The Town of Danville must prohibit E-motos on sidewalks, trails and pedestrians zones. Public walkways, parks, and neighborhoods, and downtown streets are not motor-vehicle corridors - especially where children, families, and older adults walks, shop, and gather.

Law enforcement must enforce the law - not just issue warnings. Officers see these violations daily. The law is unambiguous. The danger is undeniable. No School district, town government, or police agency wants to stand before grieving parents and explain why warnings were given but laws were not enforced.  We have a narrow window to act.

When tragedy strikes - and at the current trajectory, it will - the question will not be What happened? It will be: Why didn't we stop it when we stall had the chance? The time for talking has passed. The time for leadership - and enforcement - is right now.

Observed E-Moto Models on SRVUSD Campuses

The e-motos are not limitied to one or two brands. On October 30, 2025, volunteers identified over 20 distinct high-powered electric motorcycles parked in middle-school bicycle corrals across the San Ramon Valley. Below(photos) are 12 E-motos. School administrators should not permit these vehicles on campus, and law enforcement should begin enforcing state vehicle codes - including citation and tow authority where applicable.