San Diego: $25, and the Grace Ended October 12

San Diego is writing tickets. The city’s own page names ordinance O-2026-142 and says it took effect 13 August 2026. Children under 12 may ride a pedal bike. They may not ride a Class 1, Class 2, or Class 3 e-bike on a bike path, a roadway, a trail, a park, or a boardwalk. The same page says the grace period on citations is 60 days, until 12 October 2026. August has 18 days left after the 13th. September has 30. That is 48. Twelve more days lands on 12 October. Sixty days, counted that way, is the date the city printed. 10News, Dani Miskell, says officers could cite starting Tuesday, 13 October, at $25. The day after the grace date is the day the tickets start. Those two sentences agree. CBS 8, the same Tuesday, says the same $25, and adds that a parent or guardian can be held responsible for a citation issued to a minor. No second dollar for the parent is printed.

Thirteen and fourteen are not under twelve

Campillo, on 10News, calls it a pilot and a first of its kind, and says $25 is what state law lets the city charge, because the point is not to be incredibly punitive toward families. He also points at Rady Children’s Hospital: a 1,770 percent increase in e-bike injuries in San Diego County since 2022, and many of the injured riders between 13 and 14. A 1,770 percent increase is 17.7 times the old count, added on top of it, which is 18.7 times the 2022 number. The 2022 number is not in the story. The percent cannot be checked. Dr. Romeo Ignacio, trauma medical director at Rady, speaking in August and quoted now, said he thought the hospital saw three bike injuries as traumas in 2021 and over 260 this past year, and that e-bike injuries are the second-leading reason for a trauma activation. He said they could become the leading reason this coming year. Over 260 divided by 3 is more than 86. That pair is not the 1,770 percent. One line is “since 2022.” The other is “2021” against “this past year,” and he said “bike injuries,” then “e-bike injuries,” in the same breath. Do not weld them into one rate. The ages in the percent line are 13 and 14. The new ban is under 12. A 13-year-old on a Class 1 or a Class 2 is old enough under this ordinance. A 13-year-old on a Class 3 was already under the state’s 16. The ordinance does not, on these pages, say it was written for the ages the hospital named.

The coalition’s objection is older than the tickets

10News says the San Diego County Bike Coalition opposes the ordinance and argues the city is focused on the wrong problem. The words with a name on them are from 1 July 2026, in the Times of San Diego, when the council passed it. Ian Hembree, the coalition’s advocacy manager, said he was skeptical the restriction would prevent the roadway problem, and that education, street design, and enforcing the laws already on the books should come first. He called it the lowest-effort way to do something, and he did not deny the injuries. Campillo, in that same July piece, said the goal was not to punish children and that education alone would not prohibit the reckless riding. The July story also prints a passenger rule the October clip only waves at: a minor may not carry a passenger on an e-bike built for one. The CBS short says the rules include helmet requirements and limits on carrying passengers, and it does not print the ages or the one-person line. The city’s class chart does print the helmets, and they match the state rows already on the laws page: under 18, and every Class 3 rider. The class chart is why a Class 3 at 16 is not the new sentence. The new sentence is under 12, on a Class 1 or a Class 2, in the city.

Sixty days from 13 August is 12 October. The $25 starts the next morning. Thirteen is not under twelve.

The course is the other half of the $25. The city says a person who is cited can finish an approved online electric-bicycle course within 120 days and have the fine dismissed, under section 84.20. Miss it and the fine is due. Campillo says education is the best solution and also that the ticket exists. Both sentences are his. No count of citations issued on the 13th or the 14th is in the story. No count of injured children under 12, on a legal Class 1 or Class 2, is in it either. If the pilot publishes those two counts, this page is the one that should carry them. Until then the ordinance is the age, the places, and a fine the size of a small lunch.