The Youth Sports Alliance (YSA) and WILS Foundation are partnering to offer an electric vehicle safety and education course to local kids.
YSA supports afterschool sports programs meant to help kids of all ages be active. The WILS Foundation focuses on safety and outdoor enjoyment by offering wilderness medical training, helmet education and more.
The offering is in response to a new law categorizing high-powered e-bikes — those that can exceed 20 mph — as motorbikes. That means riders need a driver’s license with a motorcycle endorsement to ride the electric bikes.
YSA programs director Heather Sims said the law also increased safety requirements. Starting May 6, people under 21 are required to wear a helmet on e-bikes, no matter what class they are.
More safety requirements go into effect in May 2027.
“Additional changes take effect, which require children aged 8 to 15 … to complete an online electric vehicle safety education and training course to obtain a personal e-certificate to ride without an adult,” Sims said on KPCW's "Local News Hour" April 20.
Although the requirement is a year away, Sims said YSA and the WILS Foundation are offering a course April 27 at Ecker Hill Middle School to help students get a head start.
“It's for those middle school and ninth graders to get their certificate now,” Sims said. “It lasts a lifetime, so you don't have to renew it.”
The class costs $10, but families who qualify for YSA scholarships can get fee waivers.
The law and training also come after incidents involving e-bikes. A registered nurse told lawmakers during the 2026 General Legislative Session that Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City had seen an almost 67% increase in e-bike and e-scooter injuries in just one year.
In Summit County, a 13-year-old was struck by a box truck in March after he and a friend crashed their e-motorcycles and the Pinebrook neighborhood had two close calls with kids on e-bikes last year.
