Danish school bans e-bikes on group cycling trips

Vonsild School in Kolding Municipality has banned all e-bikes from its group cycling trips because staff say they cannot safely distinguish legal bicycles from illegal, high-speed models, DR reports.

Pupils who bring an e-bike to school must instead use one of the school’s loan bicycles when joining a cycling trip. The rule also applies to pupils with fully legal e-bikes.

“We cannot stand there and check whether they are legal or not, so we have chosen to treat them all alike,” said Pernille Kjøngerskov, head of the school’s senior classes.

The school says the measure is intended to keep illegal e-bikes off the trips and make it easier for teachers to supervise pupils.

“When we go on trips with the classes, we are responsible for them, and we cannot take responsibility for bicycles that can go too fast,” Kjøngerskov said. She added that faster bicycles could spread pupils out along a cycle path, leaving teachers responsible for both the front and rear of the group.

Rules for e-bikes in Denmark

Under Danish rules, a legal e-bike may have only one motor, with a maximum output of 250 watts. The motor may assist the rider up to 25 kilometres per hour while the rider is pedalling, after which it must switch off.

An e-bike must also not be capable of travelling faster than 6 kilometres per hour without the rider pedalling. The information is sourced from the Danish Road Traffic Agency.

Politician supports school’s decision

Niels Henning Bladt, deputy chair of Kolding Municipality’s Children, Schools and Families Committee for the Liberal Party, said the spread of fast e-bikes had become so extensive that he wrote an opinion piece in Kolding Netavis.

He said he encounters fast e-bikes in several parts of the city and that they create dangerous situations, including in traffic. He pointed to roads where the speed limit is 60 kilometres per hour and said he increasingly sees bicycles that appear able to travel at similar speeds.

However, Bladt said the measure should not become a common policy for all schools in the municipality. “The schools know best how to handle their pupils. I can only make a recommendation, and I can see that it is a good idea, but they are the ones who must make the decision,” he said.