BY OLI GOELDNER
A Newcastle high school has made the call to ban all e-bikes on school grounds following a string of accidents.
Parents of Kotara High School students received a letter last week stating the vehicles would be banned from the first day of Term 2, Wednesday April 22.
Traffic around the school, which backs onto Lexington Parade, is known to be extremely busy during peak hours, with several incidents reported between e-bikes and vehicles in 2025 and 2026.
Principal Mark Snedden said they've seen a rapid increase in students using the bikes.
"We're in a very congested area of Newcastle here in the morning at drop off and pick up time with all the buses," he said.
"There have been concerns raised by community members, as well as staff and parents, around the use of e-bikes and the safety of them with regard to other road users."
He noted while the bikes are a useful form of transport for students, the safety risks are too large to ignore.
"Under the Department of Education policy around to and from school, it's still a parent's priority to make a decision on how a student does get to and from school," he explained.
"But, what I am able to do within the policy is make a decision on what things can be brought into school grounds.
"So the decision has been made to no longer house e-bikes on school."
Principal Snedden also argued they don't have the proper storage facilities for the e-bikes as they are much larger than ordinary push bikes, whilst also featuring lithium batteries which can pose a fire risk.
The ban comes alongside new state-wide laws giving NSW Police and Transport for NSW the power to seize and crush illegal e-bikes.
The new legislation targets the growing number of throttle-only, high-powered e-bikes, which are said to fuel anti-social behaviour, community frustration and serious injuries.
