A 70-year-old woman was hospitalized Thursday in a crash with a teenager who was riding an electric motorcycle as the woman was crossing an intersection in Seal Beach.
The Seal Beach Police Department said the woman was crossing Main and Ocean streets, one of the busiest pedestrian corridors in the community.
She was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. The teen on the Surron e-motorcycle was not hurt.
The accident remains under investigation, and police are still trying to determine who was at fault. No citations were issued at the scene.
“I don’t want anyone to jump to conclusions about who is at fault or how it happened,” Seal Beach Public Information Officer Julia Clasby told NBC Los Angeles. “For us right now, it’s a very serious traffic collision, so we’re trying to figure out what that was.”
Seal Beach neighbors told NBCLA that the pedestrian is a regular patron of local businesses and was likely coming from one when she was hit.
For some Seal Beach neighbors, including Melinda Howell, the crash is renewing safety concerns about teens riding high-power e-motorcycles and modified e-bikes through busy local streets.
“[There’s] a lot of darting in and out of traffic and popping wheelies,” Howell said.
For people who live nearby, like Stephanie Christian, the crash is alarming but not surprising.
“There’s all these motorized vehicles around pedestrians and children, and there’s a lot of seniors around here in Seal Beach too,” Christian told NBCLA.
Seal Beach residents and police said concerns about e-bikes and the modifications that convert them into e-motorcycles have been growing in recent years not just in their community, but across the county.
Just last week, Orange County prosecutors filed felony charges against a father accused of helping his 12-year-old son modify an electric bike, turning it into what investigators said functioned as an e-motorcycle.
“An e-motorcycle is different from an e-bike,” Clasby explained. “An e-motorcycle requires DMV registration. It also requires insurance and a valid driver’s license with a motorcycle endorsement.”
Local doctors said crashes involving teens and motorized bikes and motorcycles can result in significant injuries.
“[It’s the] same as what you’re talking about with a car accident — the faster your car is, the more likely you’re going to have serious injuries — and the same holds true for an e-bike,” Bradley Jacoby, Chief of Pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente, told NBCLA.
Howell and Christian said they hope the incident sparks more caution among riders in Seal Beach and eventually, a resolution.
“I would like to see something done. Not only the laws, but the follow-through,” Howell said.