A Pacific Palisades girl was killed in an electric bike crash. Her parents see greater danger

Enchanted Approach is slightly avenue within the Pacific Palisades with breathtaking views of the ocean unfold out under.

However ever since their 12-year-old daughter died in an e-bike crash on the block a 12 months and a half in the past, Jonathan and Kaye Steinsapir have prevented the majestic street close to their home.

The couple filed swimsuit this week in opposition to Rad Energy Bikes, the burgeoning firm whose product Molly Steinsapir was driving down the steep hill of Enchanted Approach with a pal on Jan. 31, 2021. Steinsapir’s pal tried to brake as they sped downhill, however the bike didn’t cease, and as a substitute the ladies misplaced management and had been thrown to the concrete, the place Molly lay face down, unresponsive, her helmet nonetheless on, based on the lawsuit.

“I used to stroll there. I’ve not been up there since,” Jonathan Steinsapir, 44, stated. “It’s a very stunning avenue with stunning ocean views. That’s why the ladies rode up there that day. I don’t know if I prevented it at first. Now I type of have as a result of it brings on an increasing number of that means not having gone there since.”

“I can’t think about ever going again to Enchanted Approach once more,” Kaye, 44, added. “I can’t even method that space.”

Rad Energy Bikes declined to touch upon the lawsuit and on questions on the way it makes certain youngsters don’t use its merchandise meant for adults.

“The whole Rad Energy Bikes workforce extends its deepest condolences to the Steinsapir household on the tragic lack of Molly Steinsapir,” Brandie Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Rad Energy Bikes, stated in a press release.

They had been at house just a few blocks away when a neighbor referred to as and informed them Molly had been in an accident.

As they pulled out of their driveway, an ambulance sped previous, and so they adopted it to the scene. The couple stated they bickered as they drove to Enchanted Approach, with Jonathan making an attempt to persuade Kaye that their daughter had in all probability simply damaged a bone.

The Steinsapirs, who’ve two boys, Eli and Nathaniel, misplaced their daughter. Molly died within the hospital just a few weeks later after a number of mind surgical procedures. She by no means regained consciousness. Now Molly lives on in a mural painted in Might that adorns the Pierson Playhouse, a theater within the Pacific Palisades the place she acted in performs like “Guys and Dolls” and “Peter Pan.”

Time handed and the Steinsapirs’ fog of mourning hardened. They’re now taking purpose on the bigger subject of e-bike security for kids and particularly on the Seattle-based firm whose e-bike Molly was driving.

E-bike and scooter use has surged throughout the nation and in Los Angeles. Rad Energy Bikes alone boasts having almost 500,000 riders on their e-bikes, and it’s certainly one of a number of main producers.

As use has skyrocketed, so have accidents throughout the nation. The federal Client Product Security Fee discovered a gradual 70% rise in accidents on e-scooters, e-bikes, and hoverboards from 2017 to 2020. The fee reported 71 fatalities throughout the nation over that interval.

Bike security basically has change into a serious subject in cities throughout the nation, with activists demanding governments do extra to guard them from automobiles. Los Angeles responded with extra bike lanes and a few protecting lanes, however critics say it’s not sufficient.

As extra youngsters use e-bikes, some communities have taken discover. Laguna Seashore, for instance, launched an training program aimed toward younger folks after officers seen youngsters rushing by way of city.

E-bike lovers argue the machines are secure if used correctly.

However the Steinsapirs really feel not sufficient is being carried out to guard youngsters.

“Rad Energy Bikes has merely turned a blind eye to the truth that youngsters underneath 16, underneath 18 are utilizing their merchandise all around the nation,” Jonathan stated. “They acknowledge that’s inappropriate, however they’ve proven us they’re not keen to do something about it.”

The swimsuit notes that Rad Energy Bikes — the biggest e-bike firm in North America, providing sure e-bikes that function an additional seat for a passenger — buries the truth that its RadRunner bike shouldn’t be operated by folks underneath 18 deep within the purchaser’s guide. The warning is listed on web page 49 of 57.

Molly Steinsapir, center, together with her two youthful brothers, Nathaniel and Eli.

(Jonathan Steinsapir)

“Carry your youngsters,” the Rad Energy Bikes web site suggests to folks together with a photograph of a child on the backseat of an e-bike driving with an grownup.

Whereas the corporate largely posts pictures of youngsters driving within the backseat, an Instagram image from 2020 reveals a younger boy sitting within the entrance seat of a motorbike alone. When one commenter urged within the feedback that the corporate make a “little one sized rad,” the corporate responded, “Or a Rad sized little one.”

The Rad Energy Bikes web site additionally options quite a few opinions from mother and father who tout the truth that their youngsters, as younger as 10, journey their RadRunner e-bike with out adults.

“It may possibly accommodate my 10 and 12-year-old daughters as they journey up the very steep filth street to my house,” wrote one man.

That’s precisely the issue, argue the Steinsapirs.

“A part of their enchantment is that they take you locations you wouldn’t usually be capable to go, which incorporates uphill,” stated Olivier Taillieu, the lawyer who filed swimsuit for the Steinsapirs.

Molly and her pal had ridden all the best way up the steep climb of Enchanted Approach and misplaced management of the e-bike as they sped again down.

Minors utilizing electrical bikes has been a problem since e-bikes and e-scooters hit the streets. Whereas corporations like Lime and Chook require riders to be 18 and add a driver’s license to be able to hire an e-scooter, youngsters can circumvent the principles by utilizing a father or mother’s account.

Underage driving will not be essentially an issue, consultants say.

“Older teenagers, whereas technically nonetheless minors, might have tasks exterior the house like after-school jobs or caring for kin or different tasks that require them to maneuver round,” stated Sarah Kaufman, a professor who runs the New York College Rudin Heart for Transportation. “E-bikes could be particularly useful for somebody going from college to a job after which house.”

Kaufman added, nevertheless, that speedy e-bikes could be very harmful for folks as younger as Molly and {that a} sticker on the bike noting it’s for grownup use solely may assist preserve youngsters from driving.

“You’ve bought a harmful product being operated by youngsters,” Taillieu stated.

A mural devoted to Molly Steinsapir.

(Wesley Lapointe / Los Angeles Occasions)

The Steinsapirs’ swimsuit additionally alleges doable mechanical points with the RadRunner bike, saying the machine’s “disc brakes” and “fast launch” front-wheel mechanism are “a identified security hazard within the trade.”

Trek Bicycle Corp. recalled 1 million bikes over a disc brakes subject in 2015 after three riders had been injured — one paralyzed.

The lawsuit means that the brake configuration on the RadRunner prompted the e-bike to “wobble” and shake when Molly’s pal pulled on the entrance hand brake.

Karissa Marsh says her 11-year-old son Rhett was unhurt July 7 when the entrance wheel of the RadRunner he was driving in Manhattan Seashore indifferent from the bike, sending him flipping over the handlebars. He in some way landed on his ft, Marsh stated.

“The bike actually simply fell aside,” she added.

However the firm took no duty for the incident and blamed the Marshes, she stated. Rad Energy Bikes didn’t instantly reply to questions on Rhett’s accident.

“Rad must take duty,” Marsh stated. “Cease blaming everyone else.”

In one other incident in 2019, Coto de Caza resident Jennifer Fitzpatrick crashed after she couldn’t sluggish her rented Rad e-bike as she sped down a hill on the Resort at Pelican Hill, she claimed in a lawsuit. Fitzpatrick, now 57, tried to energy the bike down however couldn’t and was thrown from the bike and left concussed and briefly unconscious regardless of carrying a helmet, a lawsuit filed final 12 months in Orange County claims.

“She repeatedly pushed the button, however the [e-bike’s] motor repeatedly didn’t shut down, and the [e-bike] continued to choose up velocity, making it unimaginable for her to decelerate,” the swimsuit says.

“It was a horrendous crash and only a break up second later I assumed, ‘Oh, my God, that’s Jennifer,’” stated her husband, Daniel Fitzpatrick, 64. “Once I take a look at these youngsters driving e-bikes I simply envision if proper now as I’m them the bike tipped over and so they crashed.”

Rad Energy Bikes argued in its response to the lawsuit that Jennifer Fitzpatrick “apparently by no means utilized the e-bike’s brakes.”

Daniel Fitzpatrick stated he was undecided if his spouse utilized the brakes.

“Using a bicycle, electrical, motorized or in any other case is clearly a leisure exercise with inherent dangers of hurt that can not be eradicated from the exercise with out altering the elemental nature of the exercise. Falling off a bicycle is an inherent threat in driving one,” wrote attorneys for Rad Energy Bikes in courtroom papers within the Fitzpatrick case.

The Fitzpatricks’ product legal responsibility and negligence case is about to go earlier than a jury subsequent 12 months.

“Our expertise will not be remoted,” Kaye Steinsapir stated.

“I miss my daughter greater than something. … They are saying the loss of a kid is just like the worst factor that may presumably occur to you and all I can say is that’s true,” Jonathan Steinsapir stated. “We go on, however it’s very troublesome.”