The Eugene Police Department now accepts complaints about powered bicycle and scooter users online.
The department added a category to its online reporting portal as complaints about how people drive the electric-assist vehicles grow with the devices’ popularity.
“Everywhere I go and meet with neighborhoods, this is an issue that comes up,” said Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner.
He said the data from the portal will be used to help plan out enforcement efforts in the future, making sure that officers are stationed in the time and place where complaints happen most frequently.
"We want to make sure that we get your hotspot on our radar screen so that we can do that. It’s one of those things that we’ll get this information and then plan these enforcement and education campaigns into the future," said Skinner.
The largest concerns are around e-motos, a class of vehicle more akin to an electric dirt bike. They’re only legal on private property and OHV trails in Eugene.
“Educate yourselves on the restrictions, educate yourselves on the different classes of e-bikes and what is an e-motorcycle, and remember that violation of park rules in any respect is an arrestable offense,” he said.
The city’s website states that any electric bike is considered a bicycle, but those that go faster than 20 miles per hour and have a throttle are considered e-motos.
The website also shows another distinguishing characteristic of e-motos is that they do not have pedal-assist.
