Hanford Insider: E Bike & E Scooter Safety with HPD Corporal Daniel Todd

Welcome And What’s Ahead

SPEAKER_01 0:00

On this episode of the Hanford Insider, we'll hear from Corporal Daniel Todd of the Hanford Police Department about how the officers are educating the public about electric bicycle and scooter safety. And Rob will give you a look at some of this week's community events. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, June 15th.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Each week, we spotlight the people, events, and ideas shaping Hanford and Kings County, sharing the positive stories that bring our community together. I'm your host, Rob Bentley. So let's get started. First of all, I'd like to thank you for the terrific response to last week's show about Superior Dairy. The download shattered all of my previous records, and I'm so happy that so many of you got the information that you've been wanting to hear straight from the Zonavelds about the project and timeline. We'll have a follow-up episode next year when they get closer to reopening the ice cream parlor. I can hardly wait.

Hanford City Council Meeting Preview

SPEAKER_02 1:24

In community news this week, the Hanford City Council will be meeting on Tuesday, June 16th. At the afternoon study session, they'll receive a presentation from FM3 Research and the Trust for Public Land discussing the polling results and provide policy direction regarding whether to proceed with a recreational funding measure for the November 2026 ballot or not to proceed and defer consideration to a future election cycle. In the general session at 7 p.m., they'll start off by recognizing outstanding athletes from Sierra Pacific and Hanford West High Schools. There are twenty-four items up for consideration on the consent calendar. We don't have time to list them all here, but you can get a copy of the agenda for yourself on the city's website at Hanford.city. They have two public hearings scheduled, one on the new master fee scheduled, and another about the property issue near Alpine Avenue and Millerton Street. In general business, they'll be adopting a resolution about establishing a remote participation disruption policy and public comment registration procedures. They'll be addressing issues regarding some of the landscape assessment districts. They'll receive a presentation on a wastewater rate study. And finally, they will review the mid-cycle fiscal budget. This will be a very long meeting Tuesday night, folks. Their next meeting won't be until July 21st, so there's a lot of business to cover. If you can't make it in person, you can always watch it live online at Hanford.city.

Marketplace Nights And Local Auditions

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Moving on to other news, at this week's Thursday Night Marketplace, it's Dairy Appreciation Night with music provided by the band Brown Sugar. The King's Players have announced auditions for the mousetrap. A murder mystery by Agatha Christie, directed by Ray Lynn Royer, will be June 15th and 16th at 6 30 p.m. at the Temple Theater at 541 Visalia Street in Hanford. For more information, visit Kingsplayers.org. Now let's take a look at this

Community Calendar Highlights This Week

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week's community calendar. The Carnegie Museum of Kings County's 2026 Exhibition Building Kings County is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is located at 109 East 8th Street in downtown Hanford. Learn more at Carnegie Museum of Kingscounty.org. The annual Juneteenth Festival will be held at the Longfield Center on Friday, June 19th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They'll have live performances, food vendors, arts and crafts, and special presenters. On Tuesday, June 23rd, the Central Valley Justice Coalition will be presenting a workshop about online safety for kids at the Salvation Army from 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. On Wednesday, June 24th, there'll be a candidate night for community members interested in running for city, school, or special district offices. It'll be held in the Kings County Government Center at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Email elections at countyofkings.com for more information. The Kings Fair opens Thursday, June 25th. For more information about this year's event, visit Kingsfair.com. Also on June 25th, the City of Hanford will be hosting its Summer Safety Council Connect at the Civic Auditorium beginning at 5.30 p.m. Mayor Mark Hyrus, Chris Tavares, the city manager, and representatives from the Hanford Police Department, Fire Department, and Community Services will be on hand to answer your questions you may have about their services or any concerns that you may have. The City of Hanford's Freedom Fest and Fireworks Show will be held on Saturday, July 4th at the Hanford Softball Complex on Centennial Drive from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The fireworks show will begin at 9.15 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online through Event Frite. There's also special VIP seating and parking packages available. Contact the city at 559-585-2525 for more information.

Share Your Event With Hanford Insider

SPEAKER_02 5:43

And don't forget, if you have an event coming up, large or small, and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to HanfordInsider at gmail.com. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events. It's the most comprehensive community calendar available.

Why Hanford Regulated E-Bikes

SPEAKER_02 6:10

Back in March, the Hanford City Council passed an ordinance to regulate the use of e-bikes and e-scooters in Hanford after many complaints in the community about unsafe riding and uh just wanting to protect the citizens and keep Hanford a safe place to be. And we're fortunate enough today to have Corporal Daniel Todd with us here, who from the Hanford Police Department has a lot of experience in uh riding bikes and motorcycles. As you know, he was injured last year in a uh horrific accident on Grangeville Boulevard, but we're definitely glad he's here today to share with us more about bicycle and e-bike safety. Welcome, Daniel.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Oh, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Daniel, the actions by the Hanford City Council to enact an ordinance regulating the use of these vehicles is so important. Uh there are children's lives at stake and adults' lives at stake. And we see them going around town driving unsafely, uh, riding unsafely, uh, causing injuries and accidents. There's been fatalities. How is the Hanford Police Department addressing the use of these scooters and educating the community about the proper procedures for using these?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Well, I think a part of the education component is this interview right here. Uh, we want to get the message out that there is a new city council ordinance that went into effect in March. And we want to basically go over that a little bit, talk about what the new rules and regulations in the city are, and then also some of the vehicle code laws that are in place that have already been in place before the city council came up with this, and then maybe some more of the safety aspect going forward, what parents can do, what it's important for the kids to know, or even the adults to know. We see a lot of wrong writing out there if uh that I see on the streets. And I think we can all do better from bicycle rider to an e-bike rider, a motorized scooter rider to drivers ourselves, we can always do better. I know personally we can always do better. So with that, I think you know this is a big component is getting the word out, and then once the word's out, you can expect to see a step up in enforcement.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

So let's get into

E-Bike Classes And Legal Definitions

SPEAKER_02 8:22

it. Let's talk about the various classes of electronic bikes because I know there's a breakdown by how fast they go. There's electric motorcycles. Uh, give us kind of a rundown of the different types of vehicles we're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah, so I'm not, I wouldn't consider myself an expert in these, but it's my understanding that there's three different types of electronic or electric or e-bike, whatever you want to call it. There's three different classes, class one and two, they're throttle assisted or pedal assisted. Class one is uh pedal assisted, it has a top maximum speed of 20 miles per hour. Class two is pedal assisted, but it also has a uh a throttle on it, so either with your hand or your thumb throttle. And then a class three is pedal assist only, but it has a top speed of 28 miles per hour. And these are defined within the California vehicle code, and this is what we operate under when we're classifying these things. Now you also have mopeds and pocket bikes and other items like motorized scooters that are covered in the vehicle code. And then we also see these electric dirt bikes, which are basically the same as an electric bicycle, except they only have pegs, they don't have pedals to drive the rear wheel at all. Similar to you know, a motorized scooter, you can, you know, push that, pump it, whatever you call it, or it has the throttle on it itself. And these things, they all are classified based on their speed. For instance, motorized scooters aren't supposed to go over 15 miles an hour,

The Real Problem Bikes We See

SPEAKER_00 9:52

stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

So in Hanford, what are the most common bikes that we're seeing? Is there a particular bike that people are using that uh may be part of the issue?

SPEAKER_00 10:04

One of the things that I've seen personally when I was in motors before was the uh motorized scooters. A lot of the motorized scooters that I would see out on the street were capable. For instance, I was going down Lacey one day and I saw a guy uh on Lacey doing 28 miles per hour on a motorized scooter. To me, it's that kind of speed on something you stand on is a little crazy. Uh, but he was going 28 miles an hour down the middle of Lacey Boulevard. So that that scooter itself shouldn't be going that fast. He had no helmet on. You know, he just wasn't taking his safety into consideration. Um at the end of the day, you know, that person's safety is the one that's really at risk because you're not going to do much damage to a car. Here lately, what we've been seeing are uh juveniles riding these e-bikes that their parents get from wherever Amazon, Costco. I I don't want to shame any particular provider of these of these things, but I doubt some of the legality of some of these devices that these kids are riding. I've seen them at speeds well over, you know, 20 to 28 miles an hour, which we know from the vehicle code is not supposed to be allowed. A lot of times people jailbreak them to make them go faster. And then we also see kids, especially riding without due regard for their safety and the safety of others, riding on the wrong side of the roadway, not understanding the rules of the road. You wouldn't hand your kid the keys to a motorcycle at the age of 11 and tell them, hey, go have fun. But you're kind of doing the same thing when you let them go out on their e-bike um without knowing the rules of the road.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

And it's summertime now, so kids have more time on their hands and hey, let's go for a ride.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

You know, and it is nice to see kids off the phones, out of the house, being outside doing things that aren't sitting in front of the TV all day. You know, I mean it's a common problem that we also see that with our children, but uh it is nice to see them out and about and doing things. We just want them to do it safely.

A Crash Story That Changes Everything

SPEAKER_02 11:57

I want to get back to the speed issue. You shared with me uh before we started recording that in your accident, you were not going that fast at the time that the of the impact with a vehicle, yeah?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, so at the time I was actually responding to a rollover traffic collision. Uh it was a cyst call from CHP. That's not important, but my speedometer on my motorcycle broke at 32 miles an hour. So we estimate that I I hit the vehicle that pulled out in front of me at approximately 32 miles an hour. And some of my injuries, I was wearing an open face helmet, but I did have a nice $900 helmet on my head. And um I broke my jaw in three places. I broke my cheekbone, broke my eyebrow, broke both of my wrist and arms in my left elbow. Uh, I'm still suffering the ramifications of that. I have limited range of motion, loss of strength. Um, some of my teeth are missing. Um, and that was at 32 miles an hour. Uh, granted, there is a lot of mass on that motorcycle that kind of propelled me into the side of that truck and the way that it hit that truck. But it it just kind of goes to show that it doesn't take a lot of speed to have severe injuries. That crash, I was lifelighted to Fresno to the trauma center because of that. And um, you know, you you think, oh, it's a motorized scooter, it's a bicycle. Well, last year uh we had a motorized scooter uh run a red light at 11th and Fargo and ran into the side of their truck, and the rider of that motorized scooter passed away at the scene. So these are very real possibilities, and we just don't want to have to take in reports of a child, especially, you know, riding unlawfully or riding dangerously and end up in that situation.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

So,

Parent Prep Safety Gear And Rules

SPEAKER_02 13:37

besides for taking the time to actually research what they're giving their children, what advice would you give to parents? Um, you know, their their kid wants a scooter, they go to a store, pick one up, or maybe they order it online or such. What are some things as a parent that you should do maybe to prepare your child for what they're going to be doing on the road and what they might encounter?

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Well, number one, you want to have that conversation and and develop, you know, a sense of responsibility with your kid, first of all. And beyond that, I preach, I preach, preach, preach the importance of safety gear, helmets, preferably full-face helmets, if you can. I know it's hot here. I know it's uncomfortable. Trust me, I rode a motorcycle for two summers enforcing vehicle, you know, traffic code. I know how hot it can get. I know how miserable it can be. But speaking of someone that broke their jaw in three places, you're gonna be thankful for that chin bar when you crash into the side of a car or onto the asphalt. There's also gloves. You don't want to crash and skin your hands up. That's difficult to deal with. Going over what the rules of the road are with your child, understanding that bicycles ride the same direction as cars as far to the right of the roadway as possible. Because what I see commonly is kids riding against traffic, like taking a lane almost against traffic or riding in the middle of the road that's inherently unsafe. And at the end of the day, roads are for cars and bicycles get to use it. So to me, as a parent myself who's trying to get a kid to start driving, I would say that the conversation surrounding safety and the rules of the road and instilling how important those are in your children before you let them loose on the streets.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

I know

Where You Can Ride In Town

SPEAKER_02 15:30

there's been some confusion as to where exactly they can ride. There's sidewalks, there's uh in some areas of town, there's designated bike lanes, not very many. We definitely need more. I know the city council's working on that with the parks and community services department getting more identifiable places to ride your bikes. But in general, what are the safe places that these vehicles should be riding?

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Well, like I said, per the vehicle code, they're required to follow the same rules of the road as a car. So a stop sign, you got to stop at a stop sign. You're supposed to drive on the right side of the road, just like you are in a car. It specifically says for bicycles, e-bikes, um, e-conveyances, they call them, to be as far to the right as possible. Now, there's no vehicle code section that bars these vehicles from riding on sidewalks. However, the new Hanford Municipal Code does not allow for any riding of bicycles or e-conveyances upon any sidewalk within the city. It specifically says that sidewalks are reserved exclusively for pedestrian use. You're also not supposed to ride them through parks, anywhere that there's a special event going on, anything like that. Honestly, you're supposed to ride it on the road with the flow of traffic as far to the right as possible. That includes bike lanes. So, for instance, Hanford Amona Road has a bike lane. It's got a bike lane on each side. So if you're going westbound, you need to be on the right side of the road in the westbound bicycle lane. If you're going eastbound, you need to be on the right side of the road going eastbound and the eastbound bicycle lane.

Fines Impoundment And One Big Message

SPEAKER_02 17:04

I know the Hanford Police Department and Kings County Sheriff's Department have been working on educating the public about these new policies and the safety, but there are infractions. Uh, it's a a moving violation. There are fines and and such associated with that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Yeah, absolutely. So with the uh with the Hanford Municipal Code specifically, those penalties and remedies, criminal remedies, would be under chapter 8.11. But there's also civil remedies that we're looking at. And uh, you know, you can actually have your your e-bike taken and held for up to 48 hours, which is something that we've looked into, you know, towing and impounding these whenever they're doing extremely unsafe things. I don't think it's something that we want to take everybody's e-bike away, but if you're riding without due regard for your own safety, other people, maybe it's better that you don't have it a couple of days.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

So if every e-bike and every e-scooter rider listening today remember just one safety message from this interview, what would you want that to be?

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Wear a helmet and follow the rules of the road. Pretty simple. Wear a helmet, follow the rules of the road. A helmet will protect you when you do crash, which will probably happen. Because there's a saying amongst us motorcycle riders, or it's not if you crash, it's when you crash. So uh there's another thing that we say dress for the slide, not the ride. So when you're on an e-bike, on a scooter, wear a helmet. It's required for anybody under the age of 18, 16, um, any for a class three for one of these bikes that goes 28 miles an hour, it's required for everyone to wear a helmet. I would recommend a full face helmet, protect yourself, and then follow the rules of the road. If you don't know what the rules of the road are, educate yourself.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

So if parents do have questions about the legality of the vehicle that they've purchased for their children, or maybe adults that have them just for recreation, can they contact the Hanford Police Department to get the clarification they need?

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Absolutely. We're always here to answer questions of the community. That's what we're here to do. We yes, we enforce the law, but we want people to know and understand the law before we enforce it upon them. So yeah, we we're always here to answer questions. Some of these, I'm still studying this myself. A lot of our guys in patrol, they don't deal with this on a regular basis. This isn't their primary role or function. But coming from a traffic background in our traffic department, this is something that we're focusing on and educating ourselves on. So yes, we're more than happy to answer questions from parents and uh, you know, the citizens at large. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Daniel,

Community Support And How To Call

SPEAKER_02 19:39

it's been so great visiting with you today. We're very pleased and very happy that prayers have been answered, that uh you're doing better. And would you like to update the community on maybe uh how things are going and maybe thank a few folks?

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Uh well, you know, I just really want to say thank you to everybody that was there for me in the short term afterwards. The community really stepped up and supported me and my family in a way that I can't thank them enough for. I it's hard for me to find the words to put out there. But just know that not just myself, but my family as well are extremely grateful. I'm especially grateful to the officers that were there on scene that day, to the fire department, to the EMS, to everybody, the doctors, everybody. It's been a long, ongoing process for me, and I'm not quite done yet. I still have quite a bit of recovery to go with some physical limitations in my arms and hands. Probably never gonna ride a motorcycle again, just due to physical limitations, but also because my wife says no. But no, um, realistically, I do especially want to thank the community for for the way that they showed up after my crash. I I saw the posts on social media. Um, you know, I saw all of that, and and it's just really eye-opening to how great this community can be. For sure. Thank you so much, Daniel. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

If you have questions about e-bikes and e-scooters, you can call the Hanford Police Department non-emergency line at 559-585-2540. Well,

Next Week Plus Ways To Support

SPEAKER_02 21:08

that wraps things up for this week's show. Tune in next week to hear from Hanford Fire Chief Daniel Perkins about the It's Not Worth It campaign to reduce the dangers of illegal fireworks this Independence Day weekend coming up. If you're enjoying the podcast and you'd like to support it, you can head over to my buymeacoffee.com forward slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. Or you can Venmo me directly. To stay connected, join the Hanford Insider email list at HanfordInsider.com. You'll get a weekly update plus an exclusive newsletter delivered right to your inbox each Wednesday. I'd also really appreciate your help getting the word out about the show by liking or sharing on social media, or like most people, just tell in a friend. You can follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and YouTube at Hanford Insider for more content and updates. And if you've got a show idea, send me an email at Hanford Insider at gmail.com and I'll look into it. Thanks for listening to this week's Hanford Insider Podcast. Have a great week.