Police launch enforcement blitz on micromobility vehicles

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Toronto Police are involved in a three-week traffic safety education and enforcement blitz of micromobility vehicles — as in bicycles, electric bikes, e-mopeds and electric kick-scooters (e-scooters).

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Running until Sept. 13, the campaign is focusing on micromobility users operating on bike lanes, sidewalks and crosswalks, while paying close attention to speeders, those who drive aggressively, are distracted or impaired and park or drive within cycle lanes.

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Toronto Police Insp. Matt Moyer of the traffic services unit said it’s like the Wild West out there right now when it comes to micromobility vehicles.

“The e-bikes are on the sidewalks. They’re on the roads. They’re going through red lights. They’re not stopping at stop signs. You’ve got pedestrians jumping out of their way. They’ve got food to deliver,” said Moyer.

“We don’t hold people accountable and I just decided we need to own this and move forward. The city’s already reached out to all the food industry to say (this) is coming. To say, ‘Look, if you’re going to work and do this kind of stuff, you have to abide by the law.’ But they’re not, really.”

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The micromobility campaign came after city council recommended to police that they collaborate on an educational campaign and enforcement blitz to raise awareness of safety issues such as illegal sidewalk riding, wrong way riding in cycle tracks, illegal e-moped use in cycle tracks and illegal parking in bike lanes.

“I want our officers to talk to these people and if you think the message ain’t getting through, then they get at ($110 plus $10 service charge) ticket (under the Highway Traffic Act),”said Moyer. “The discretion lies with the officer. But if you feel you can have that impact and that influence with a conversation, then please do.”

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One of the big disconnects is e-scooters are illegal on City of Toronto streets, although Moyer said you can drive them on private property like a schoolyard or a church parking lot.

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“They’re not safe,” he said. “SicKids hospital were telling me, ‘We can’t give you stats, names, personal identifiers, but we can tell you there’s been a significant increase of children being treated for head injuries (using micromobility vehicles). You have to wear a helmet, an approved helmet, if you’re operating an e-bike. And nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to operate an e-bike.”

Moyer said Toronto in 2024 had 549 collisions involving a bicycle and 320 collisions involving an e-bike. As of July, there had been 236 bikes and 186 e-bikes involved in collisions this year.

He said there were six people killed in Toronto in 2024 in micromobility collisions, five of them on e-bikes and one on an e-scooter.

“We see them on the Gardiner (Expressway),” said Moyer. “We see them on the DVP (Don Valley Parkway). They’re driving them everywhere. But we need to work together on this so that people aren’t getting hurt.”

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