On Oct. 22, 2025, the Atherton City Council adopted a resolution to lower the speed limit on Valparaiso Avenue from 30 mph to 25 mph. The decision came after a September accident on Valparaiso during high-traffic school morning commute hours, where a Menlo-Atherton High School student riding an e-bike was injured.
Valparaiso is a major road at the border of Menlo Park and Atherton. Menlo sits on the east end of the street, and Sacred Heart Prep is within walking distance; the proximity of the two schools creates heavy traffic every morning. According to Public Works Director at City of Menlo Park Azalea Mitch, the decision to reduce the Valparaiso speed limit was part of an ongoing effort by the Town of Atherton and the City of Menlo Park to ensure community safety. “Since last year, we have made a focused effort to reduce speed limits throughout Menlo Park as the law allows for safety reasons,” she said.
Menlo Park public schools have also unanimously banned students from riding Class II and Class III e-bikes on school grounds since Nov. 13. The schools will lock any e-bikes found on their property and report the student to Menlo Park law enforcement. Beyond emailed instructions to avoid the area and exercise caution after the accident, Menlo currently has no e-bike-specific restrictions in place.
E-bikes are bikes with an electronic pedal assist. The fastest e-bikes, Class III, can reach a maximum speed of 28 mph. Although these e-bikes are built with embedded speed restrictions, those limits can be bypassed, and reach speeds of up to 50 mph.
Every school morning, students travel to school on e-bikes alongside traffic. The popularity of e-bikes has skyrocketed in the Bay Area since the pandemic. In 2024, San Mateo County recorded a 357% increase in emergency room visits for e-bike accidents, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Senior Elise Chen, who witnessed the September e-bike accident, believes that the incident wasn’t necessarily caused by speeding. She added that the majority of accidents on Valparaiso occur in the morning, when traffic would prevent speeding. Instead, Chen attributes the accident to the chaos of everyone trying to get to school during school morning rush hours.
However, Chen does believe that people don’t always adhere to the speed limit. “I feel like it’s a norm for everyone to drive above the speed limit [unless there’s traffic]. […] I feel like there’s definitely reckless driving,” she said.
On the contrary, Director of Security Mustapha Moutri believes that speeding was likely a contributing factor in the accident, along with phone usage and failures to adhere to yield signs or right-of-way. Moutri appreciates the City of Menlo Park and the City of Atherton’s efforts to prevent future incidents. “Both cities, Menlo Park and Atherton, did a great job before this year’s school start by adding more signs, repainting the crosswalks and increasing police presence on Valparaiso Ave, especially during peak school hours,” Moutri wrote in an email to The Coat of Arms.
Menlo parent Wiley Anderson allows his two daughters to ride e-bikes to school. However, he first had them ride together as a family on busy roads, including Valparaiso Avenue and El Camino Real. “Drivers aren’t always predictable,” he said. “Our safety lessons were bike rides together as a family.”
By riding together, Anderson taught his kids the rules of the road, helping them make safe decisions when riding. He advises families considering allowing their children to ride e-bikes to establish clear rules for riding.
