With e-bikes becoming increasingly common on shared coastal pathways, around schools and in town centres across the North Coast, safety experts say families should not wait for new laws before teaching teenagers how to ride safely.
BikeHero, a new online safety education platform for riders aged 11 to 17, was created by two Northern Beaches families: designers Paul Gawman and Trish Steel, and Daniel and Mary Payne, a firefighter and former paramedic and nurse.
Co-founder Paul Gawman said the idea grew from concerns about how quickly e-bike use had expanded among teenagers.
“Two Northern Beaches families, five kids between them, watching the same thing play out across the community: teens getting e-bikes for birthdays and Christmas, then heading straight onto roads and shared paths with no real safety education attached,” Mr Gawman said.
“We were hearing about crashes, near-misses, confused parents and kids riding bikes they didn’t fully understand.”
Mr Gawman said coastal regional communities faced unique safety pressures, particularly on busy shared pathways and roads carrying a mix of locals, tourists, trucks and tradie traffic.
“Regional towns can have quieter local streets, which is a real advantage,” he said.
“But the connecting roads can have higher speeds, less rider infrastructure, longer distances, and a heavier mix of utes, tradies, trucks and tourist traffic than a city teen might deal with every day.”
Across many North Coast communities, teenagers are increasingly using e-bikes to travel independently to school, beaches, sporting fields and part-time jobs.
Mr Gawman said many parents underestimated how different modern e-bikes were from traditional bicycles.
“Modern e-bikes feel familiar because they look like bikes, but they carry speed differently,” he said.
“Parents often underestimate how quickly their teen is moving, especially on shared paths, driveways and school routes.”
He said education was just as important as future regulation.
“Regulation matters, and we support sensible regulation,” he said.
“But laws set the floor. Habits keep teens safer day to day.”
Former paramedic and nurse Mary Payne said the injuries resulting from e-bike crashes could be serious, especially at higher speeds.
“The injuries that worry me most are head and spinal injuries from going over the bars, and collarbone, wrist and arm fractures when riders put a hand out to break a fall,” Ms Payne said.
“Speed makes everything worse. A crash at 35 km/h on a heavy, non-compliant e-bike is a very different impact to a fall from a regular pushie at lower speed.”
Ms Payne said unsafe behaviours such as riding without helmets, weaving through traffic and using phones while riding remained common among teenagers.
“The one that worries me most is riding right alongside parked cars, in the door zone,” she said.
“It is one of the easiest ways to come to grief, and most teens have never been taught to look for it.”
She said parents needed to start practical safety conversations immediately.
“To parents, don’t wait for the law to settle. Your teen is riding now, so the learning needs to happen now,” she said.
BikeHero is currently in an invite-only beta phase involving a small group of Northern Beaches families in NSW, with a public launch expected shortly.
The founders said the platform was being designed for families across Australia, although they do not yet have North Coast users participating in the beta program.
At launch, the platform will include short learning modules, scenario-based lessons and a Certified Rider course designed for families to complete together.
Mr Gawman said online education could play an important role in regional communities where formal rider training opportunities may not always be available.
“That matters because regional families should not have to wait for a council program or school session before their kids learn how to ride safely,” he said.
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