BEND — Cori Burger couldn’t take her eyes off her phone. Her son, Trenton, was there, a dot in a location tracking app. She watched the dot as her husband drove to the hospital.

The dot stopped moving outside the hospital’s emergency room.

“They’re not taking him in,” she said to her husband.

“He’s just hurt,” her husband, Dave Burger, told her, trying to be calm.

“They’re not bringing him in,” she repeated.

When they arrived at the St. Charles Bend emergency room, they were greeted by a chaplain.

That’s when they knew.

Trenton died in an e-bike crash on June 17, one month shy of his 16th birthday.

The Burgers’ tragedy quickly became all of Bend’s. Soon, all of Oregon will come to know Trenton, too, as local officials prepare a new e-bike law to address antiquated rules that have failed to keep up with reality.

The new law will be called Trenton’s Law.

Beyond changing restrictions, officials and advocates are pursuing a cultural shift, where e-bike safety becomes second nature, and the roads are a comfortable place to ride.

The boy behind the law

Trenton commanded your attention when he walked into a room, his parents said. His wide smile, joking manner and unmistakable curls all contributed to his charm.

He was the youngest in the Burger’s blended family and the only child that Cori and Dave Burger had together. Trenton had aspirations to join the military, like his brother had, and then work in the trades like his father.

He loved the outdoors and listening to music.

Trenton was a part of a tight-knit community of family and friends. He was a cool kid, a brother, a son, a friend. He had a personality that went beyond being someone’s child.

“It wasn’t just Cori and Dave’s kid,” his father said.

Trenton’s Law

State Rep. Emerson Levy, D-Bend, and Bend City Councilor Megan Perkins knew after Trenton’s death that they couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.

They also know their response is unconventional.

What is an e-bike?

An e-bike, or electric bicycle, is a motorized bicycle with a rechargeable electric battery. For manufacturers, sellers and regulators, e-bikes are divided into three classes that are largely based on speed.

Class one e-bikes offer pedal assistance, and they have a max speed of 20 mph.

Class two e-bikes offer both pedal assistance and throttle assistance, and they also have a max speed of 20 mph.

Class three e-bikes offer pedal assistance only, but they have a max speed of up to 28 mph.

E-bikes are often heavier than regular bikes, and they come riddled with different riding modes and capabilities. However, the same safety principles that apply to regular bikes, including wearing a helmet and practicing etiquette while riding, apply to e-bikes despite their differences.

Most jurisdictions around the country regulate e-bikes by class. That often means kids under 16 years aren’t allowed to ride class three e-bikes, which have a pedal-assist motor that can reach 28 mph speeds. But under that system, class one and two e-bikes, which are pedal-assisted and throttle-assisted e-bikes that reach 20 mph speeds, are fair game.

Instead of taking the expected route and regulating e-bikes by class, which is most common, Levy intends to propose that throttle-assisted e-bike riders must be at least 16 years old. Anyone under 16 years old could only ride pedal-assisted e-bikes.

“We know it’s a different kind of solution,” Levy said.

At the heart of it, she’s seeking to address the throttle e-bikes, which require little to no physical effort and are often designed to look and act like an electric motorcycle or moped.

Oregon’s e-bike laws today ban kids under 16 from riding all e-bikes. Those rules were established in 1997.

E-bikes have become an urgent issue in recent years as prices have become cheaper and battery technology has improved.

With the rise in popularity, risks have arisen too.

At least 36 people have landed in the St. Charles Bend emergency room with e-bike-related injuries in the past six months, according to hospital spokesperson Alandra Johnson. The hospital only began tracking e-bike injuries in May, so Johnson said those numbers may be low.

Bend Fire & Rescue has responded to 75 total bike crashes in the past six months. Nineteen of those were e-bike crashes.

During the upcoming 2024 legislative session, Levy, who was elected to House District 53 in 2022, is making Trenton’s Law a priority, she said.

A legislative change won’t bring Trenton back. Cori and Dave Burger know that. But it could prevent other parents from suffering a tragic loss.

“Anything we can do to help other people,” they both agreed.

Levy sees that, too.

“It’s not just changing the law,” Levy said. “It’s a bigger commitment.”

The boy they lost

Trenton was an old soul, his parents said.

He liked Frank Sinatra peppered into his playlists of Mac Miller, a rapper, and Zach Bryan, a pop country singer.

He was a little bit of a troublemaker, his parents said, but even his antics bring a smile to their faces.

“He was just a wild one,” Cori Burger said.

He struggled with school. It just wasn’t his thing, she said. He’d much rather be riding motocross or hunting or fishing with his dad.

Trenton began riding a kid-sized dirt bike around the age of 4, his dad said. At the time of his death, Trenton, who competed in motocross races, and his dad had been working on a new motocross bike. They finished it just before that day in June.

“He never got to race it,” Dave Burger said.

Carrot vs. stick

Changing e-bike law also means addressing gaps in road infrastructure and investing in education, which is why, simultaneous to Levy’s legislative efforts, Bend City Councilor Perkins has embarked on an educational crusade to embed e-bike safety courses in schools.

“Doing this now will help other cities,” she said.

Much of the planned e-bike education efforts in Bend are targeted at youth, who have received the brunt of the blame for unsafe e-bike riding on Bend’s city streets. But the goal isn’t to keep kids off of e-bikes. It’s to ensure they’re riding safely with helmets and limit passengers, and that they’re equipped with proper bike etiquette knowledge.

Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz favors education over enforcement, largely due to the lack of personnel to enforce e-bikes within the police department. It’s also because that’s where law enforcement can more easily interact with people, particularly young people.

“I certainly don’t think our community wants a police department that’s a zero tolerance department,” he said.

The recent e-bike efforts are reminiscent of seatbelt laws. Law enforcement won’t be peering over riders’ shoulders to ensure they’re following the law. Instead, the idea is to change the culture of e-bike riding.

Commute Options, a local transportation nonprofit, is aiming to do just that through its free, online e-bike education course.

Brian Potwin, the nonprofit’s executive director, believes e-bikes are only going to increase in popularity. Oregon and the rest of the country will only see more e-bikes on the streets.

“What we’ve seen from our youth is that they love a different mode (of transportation),” he said.

The objective isn’t to take away the option to ride an e-bike but to teach people how to ride safely.

Not all e-bikes are created equal

Some attribute the rise of e-bikes in Bend to pandemic-era boredom and extra income. Others point to Bend’s general affluence.

Parallel problems on the West Coast

Encinitas, California is a mid-sized, affluent town north of San Diego with what the town’s mayor, Tony Kranz, calls, “Five and a half miles of beautiful Pacific Coast shoreline.”

It’s paradise, he said, and it has been grappling with the same rise in e-bike use as Bend. For at least a few years, Encinitas focused mostly on education efforts leading up to June 22.

“And then Brodee, on his way to his high school for track practice, had his encounter with a moving vehicle and was killed,” Kranz said.

Brodee Champlain-Kingman was 15 years old when he died while riding an e-bike.

“Encinitas feels the pain of the folks in Bend,” Kranz said. “We know what it’s like when a 15-year-old is killed riding his bike.”

Kranz declared a local state of emergency on e-bikes following Brodee’s death. Just days after, the Encinitas City Council adopted a ban on passengers on e-bikes not built to carry more than one person. The new rule is punishable by citation, but a diversion program is allowed on the first offense.

Beyond enforcement and education efforts, Encinitas, like Bend, is on a search for longterm solutions to avoid a repeat of tragedy.

To Kranz, that means enacting changes that make bike-riding easier in an auto-centric city.

“If people are afraid to get on their bikes to enjoy the place that we live, then we’re doing something wrong,” he said.

Regardless, Bend residents have voted: E-bikes are an attractive way to travel longer distances quicker and with less effort while being environmentally conscious.

Incremental changes to Bend’s infrastructure and prioritizing education over enforcement are the modus operandi.

The model for many of the bike lanes in Bend and around Oregon has existed since the ‘70s when the state first made designated bike lanes a requirement, according to Robin Lewis, a transportation engineer for the city of Bend.

A painted line on the pavement has been the standard for decades, Lewis said, but priorities are changing.

In 2019, the city established a hierarchy for bike facilities, which classifies roads, streets or sections of bike lanes by levels of comfort based on experience or ability. The city set out to create a low-stress bikeway network by 2025. It is on its way to achieving that goal with the creation of the Crosstown Bikeways, which is an intersecting criss-cross of a north-south route and an east-west route.

But that’s just the first step.

“The most success will be when we create a network that keeps everyone flowing so there’s fewer stops,” Lewis said.

Cyclists, drivers, pedestrians and e-bike riders are all included in that success.

Jim Elliott, a board member for the bike advocacy nonprofit, Bend Bikes, said driver education is just as important as education for bike riders.

E-bikes have advanced the discussion of how Bend’s roads can better accommodate other modes of transportation that aren’t cars.

“A big part of it is slower speeds,” Elliott said.

To slow cars down and allow e-bike riders, cyclists and pedestrians feel safer, incentive is key, he said.

A major way to accomplish that, according to Elliott, is to take the “Field of Dreams” approach.

If you build it, they will come.

A person to remember

Trenton’s friends still come over to the Burger’s house. Sometimes to mow the lawn, sometimes to swipe candy and sometimes just to spend time with the Burgers. But it’s still much quieter without Trenton around.

Trenton was a memorable person, and nearly everyone he encountered had a story about him.

Cori and Dave Burger told one more story:

They found photos of a beautiful sunset and the sunrise on Trenton’s phone after he was taken to the hospital.

They realized, the evening before the accident, Trenton went up to Pilot Butte to watch the sunset. The next morning, on the day of his death, Trenton woke up early and returned to Pilot Butte to watch the sunrise.

“What 15-year-old kid does that?” Dave Burger said, chuckling.

The memory brings tears to Dave and Cori Burger’s eyes. They smile, too, at the thought of their son enjoying one last sunset and sunrise.

To continue the conversation about e-bikes in Central Oregon, The Bulletin is partnering with the City Club of Central Oregon to host a discussion forum on the topic.

Bulletin Reporter Anna Kaminski will moderate the panel, which will include Rep. Emerson Levy, who is leading the charge to update state e-bike law; Bill Lynch, the board president for public trails nonprofit Central Oregon Trail Alliance; and Brian Potwin, executive director for transportation nonprofit Commute Options.

The forum will take place in person at the RiverHouse on the Deschutes in Bend at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 16, and a recording will be available online after the fact. More information and registration details are available online at cityclubco.org.