Riverton police put e-bikes first in their Halloween safety warnings

RIVERTON — Lt. John Arnoldsen of the Riverton Police Department told FOX 13 this week that children out on Halloween night focus on the next house rather than on the street, and may "just dart out into the road" 1. The department said it is also seeing more of a second hazard: e-bikes. "We still have a lot of kids who are just riding them around town on the street, on sidewalks, and they go fast," Arnoldsen told the station. "And so when there's an accident involving them with a vehicle, those can be really bad, like serious injury and death" 1.

Statewide figures the station attributed to the Department of Public Safety put auto-pedestrian crashes at about 827 in 2024 and 997 so far in 2026, with 31 deaths in 2024 and 43 so far this year 1. That is a comparison between two years with a gap between them, not a year-over-year rate, and the report did not publish exposure figures or a rate per mile traveled 1.

Riverton's own messaging on rideables predates the holiday. On Oct. 1 the city posted a public safety message saying that in 2025 Utah emergency rooms treated 536 e-bike and e-scooter injuries, and that 62% of those injured were not wearing a helmet. It closed with four instructions: "Know the law. Know where you can ride. Wear a helmet. Slow down" 2.

The law it points to changed this year. A city message posted July 1 described H.B. 381, the E-Mobility Amendments, as the state's rewrite of the rules for e-bikes, scooters and other electric mobility devices 3. Under the city's summary of the bill, riders 16 and older may operate standard e-bikes and most electric scooters independently; riders under 21 must wear a helmet; a vehicle whose motor exceeds 750 watts, or that can travel faster than 20 mph on motor power alone, counts as an electric motorcycle; and a new "high-powered electric device" category covers scooters and modified e-bikes capable of more than 20 mph that do not meet the e-bike or motorcycle definitions 3. Devices in that last category generally require an operator at least 16 years old with a valid driver's license 3. The bill also gives cities and counties authority to set their own rules for sidewalks, trails, pathways and parks 3.

One provision rests on something the city's messages do not say exists. The July message said youth ages 8 to 15 may ride eligible e-bikes and approved devices independently after completing "a new safety training program that is being developed by the state," similar to existing ATV training, and that the change removes the requirement for ongoing parental supervision once training is completed 3. The October message does not mention the training, and neither post says where a family would take it 23.

For the night itself, the city's own Halloween page is a driving tour rather than a safety notice. The Riverton Halloween Tour runs Oct. 14 through Oct. 31; the page invites residents to "gather the family, hop in the car" and drive past decorated homes, and points readers to a map and a house list, with black ghost icons marking the homes in this year's lineup 4. It sets the tour dates and directs readers to the map and the list; it does not set trick-or-treat hours for Oct. 31 4.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. What the city's record offers a family is its four-part instruction and the police department's warning about speed and sidewalks 12. Neither the Halloween page nor the October safety message sets a start or end time for the night, or describes an enforcement plan 24. The tour map and house list stay up through Oct. 31 4.