The explosive growth in the use of electronic bikes, scooters, skateboards and other “micromobility” devices by Illinoisans has caught state officials flat-footed. Now legislators, educators, transportation advocates and others are attempting to play catch-up.
Riders, drivers and pedestrians have been “navigating a system designed for a different era,” Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said during a press conference Thursday. “Times have changed, it's important for us to provide some guidelines.” Giannoulias and other stakeholders announced a new initiative — “Ride Safe, Ride Smart, Ride Ready" — designed to establish guardrails around currently unregulated devices, particularly a class of larger and faster e-bikes, called e-motos, capable of reaching speeds of 50 miles per hour.
Some backstory: The lack of restrictions on where this new group of devices can be operated, and who can operate them, has put lives at risk, Giannoulias said, citing a pair of high-profile fatalities involving e-bikes: A Mt. Prospect teen riding an e-bike was killed in 2025 when he collided with a pick-up truck; and in 2022, an Illinois State University official died after he was struck by an e-bike rider in Bloomington-Normal. State Sen. Ram Villivalam and state Rep. Barbara Hernandez will help introduce legislation that will update state standards. Villivalam is chair of the senate transportation committee and Hernandez is vice-chair of the same committee in the house. While Villivalam praised e-bikes and the like as affordable, environmentally-friendly transportation alternatives to cars, laws haven't kept pace with the technology, he said, creating a hazardous environment as the devices go “whizzing by” on sidewalks, roads and paths.
The intent of the legislation will be “modernizing our approach with clear statewide standards," he said. For example, the existing vehicle code restricts the operation of lower-speed e-bikes — the fastest of which max out under 30 mph — to riders age 16 and older and prohibits their use on sidewalks. Riders of low-speed e-scooters must be 18 years old, per state regulations. Meanwhile, there's no age limit on operating high-speed e-bikes, e-scooters, electric skateboards, electric unicycles or e-motos, which Giannoulias called “more motorcycle than bicycle." Municipalities across the state have stepped in to enact their own laws around the devices, which has created a patchwork of rules.
“The lack of clarity … is downright dangerous,” said Giannoulias.
