City steps up enforcement on motorized two-wheelers amid jump in deaths

City authorities are boosting enforcement efforts targeting illegal e-bikes, scooters, mopeds and other similar vehicles as the number of people killed in wrecks involving such vehicles has jumped this year — with several incidents reported in the past few days alone.

On Monday, a 13-year-old boy died while riding as a passenger on a moped that ricocheted off an open car door and crashed into a truck in Queens, according to police. Hours later, police say a 93-year-old woman was struck and killed by a motorcycle while crossing a Bronx street.

The previous night, a motorcycle crashed into a crowd at a Brooklyn park, injuring 12 people and leaving four in critical condition, the NYPD said. The latter vehicle was registered and legal, but officials said the driver did not have a license.

Data from the city’s Department of Transportation shows that 28 people have died between Jan. 1 and June 28 of this year in accidents involving motorized two-wheelers, which include e-bikes, stand-up scooters, motorcycles, mopeds, and off-road vehicles like dirt bikes and ATVs. The total is up about 20% from the same period last year, when 23 people had died in similar incidents. The data does not include Monday’s fatalities.

The crashes have happened even as the NYPD and DOT have touted stepped-up enforcement efforts and initiatives, including a joint strategy targeting storefronts that sell motorized two-wheelers that are not street-legal or are otherwise modified to reach high speeds. They’ve also increased patrols on the streets, where police officers have written triple the number of tickets to e-scooter riders since mid-June of last year and double the tickets to e-bike riders, compared to last year’s numbers.

The ripple effects of this year’s crashes have reverberated throughout the city, renewing calls for stricter enforcement and more education around the nimble, high-speed vehicles — especially e-bikes and e-scooters, the latter of which has caused more of those fatalities this year than they have since 2022, according to a breakdown of the crashes from Transportation Alternatives, a street safety advocacy group.

After a cyclist and an e-scooter rider were both killed in a high-speed crash on Queensboro Bridge in May, the organization again pressed the City Council to pass a bill that would ban the sale of e-bikes and e-scooters capable of exceeding 20 mph. The e-scooter involved in that crash was an illegal vehicle capable of traveling up to 53 mph.

Just one day before that incident, the NYPD had launched an additional enforcement initiative focused on e-bikes and e-scooters in bridge corridors and other areas where they’re likely to come into close contact during morning and evening rush hours, according to the department.

On the Queensboro Bridge alone, officers have issued 113 tickets from the end of May to the end of June. But officers stationed at the Queensboro and other bridges are looking for reckless driving at the beginning and end of the roadway – they’re not able to be in the middle, where it’s difficult for them to station themselves safely, according to the department.

Transportation officials are quick to point out progress they have made over the years – fatalities connected to motorized two-wheeled vehicles are down compared to the first months of 2023 and 2024, when 33 and 34 people died, respectively. The agency also looks at injury data, which is a larger pool and can more accurately highlight the way the trends are going. So far this year, the DOT data shows about 500 fewer people have been hurt on motorized two-wheelers than in the same period in 2024.

The DOT also has a number of regulations in place for motorized two-wheelers, though the guidance changes from e-bikes to e-scooters to dirt bikes and motorcycles. E-bikes, dirt bikes and e-scooters can only go 15 mph on city streets, while mopeds and motorcycles can travel at the same speed as cars. Not all of them can be ridden in bike lanes, but all of them can be ridden in regular vehicle lanes among cars and trucks. E-bikes, dirt bikes and e-scooters do not need VINs or license plates, and do not need to be operated by people with driver’s licenses.

The differences in rules and weight classes across these diverse types of vehicles also mean injuries and fatalities — along with their causes and possible methods of prevention — can be hard to identify and track. The NYPD, the DOT and independent organizations like Transportation Alternatives each keep their own crash data, which can vary slightly depending on how they are classifying incidents and how they are comparing stats year over year.

Even if these types of vehicles are purchased legally and ridden with care, their popularity, combined with vehicle congestion on city streets, can still lead to tragedy. Police data shows that at least 10 of the people who have died on motorized two-wheelers so far this year were hit by cars or trucks, up from three in the same timeframe last year.

“Everybody realizes that this is the best way to get around New York City,” said Baruch Herzfeld, a bicycle activist who regularly bikes 40 or 50 miles around the city in a day. “This is not a problem that’s going to be going away anytime soon.”

DOT spokesperson Vincent Barone said that while overall deaths and injuries involving two-wheelers have been trending down over the last several years, the Mamdani administration “will be doubling down on efforts to redesign roads while also working to remove illegal devices from our streets.”

Just before 9 p.m. on June 18, two teenagers on a Razor dirt bike maneuvered around a turning car on West 112th Street in Harlem and veered into oncoming traffic.

According to police, they collided with a Chevrolet Tahoe that was heading eastbound. Kayvon Jones, the dirt bike’s 13-year-old driver, sustained a serious head injury and was pronounced dead later than night. His 14-year-old passenger hurt his leg and was taken to the hospital in stable condition. The Tahoe driver stayed at the scene and was not charged with a crime, officials said.

In the lobby of Jones’ building, just two avenue blocks away from where he died, friends and relatives lit memorial candles and used markers to scrawl messages to him across the walls, on the floor, and even in the elevator.

Jones’ family declined to speak with a reporter about his death, but an online fundraiser for the teen called him a “funny, loving, and caring young boy who brought joy to everyone around him.” He had celebrated his 13th birthday two days earlier, according to the post.

Herzfeld noted that it’s hard for parents to keep their kids off these kinds of two wheelers once they taste the freedom of being able to get around the city on their own. He said he still encourages his own four children to ride their bikes – but gives them stern warnings.

“I tell the kids they get one mistake. You could be doing everything right,” he said. “If a car hits you, if one guy doesn’t see you, one mistake that’s all you get.”