Subcommittee advances bill to study e‑bike safety and require crash data collection

TALLAHASSEE — The Transportation and Economic Development Budget Subcommittee on Tuesday voted to pass CS for HB 243, a bill from Representative Benroch aimed at improving safety for electric bicycles by prioritizing education, enforcement and data collection.

Representative Benroch told the committee the measure was prompted by multiple recent fatalities and serious injuries involving high‑speed electric devices and said the bill would create a traffic‑safety task force and require law enforcement to collect crash data "so we can better understand where risk exist" and determine what steps reduce harm.

The sponsor named several recent deaths in Florida and emphasized the goal of building a reliable evidence base before pursuing regulation. "This is gonna create a task force that's gonna help us collect that data," Benroch said.

Captain James Cunningham of the Collier County Sheriff's Office urged support, saying current crash reporting is uneven: "One of the fatalities she mentioned didn't even show up in a crash report involving a bicycle because it was actually what they considered to be an eMoto," he said, arguing that inconsistent mechanisms across agencies obscure the scope of the problem.

Members of the committee waived additional public testimony from several organizations, including the Miami‑Dade Sheriff's Office, AARP and Collier County representatives, who registered support. Representative Daly expressed support during debate, calling the issue "a big, big issue" and noting frequent reports of teens being seriously injured. The ranking member asked whether the bill would change license rules for higher‑speed devices; Benroch said it would not, and that the focus is on data collection and public education.

After debate the clerk called the roll and the chair announced that CS for HB 243 "passed favorably." The committee did not enact licensing changes; the bill requires further work to standardize reporting and develop policy recommendations based on collected data.

The subcommittee moved on to its next item and adjourned later in the meeting.