ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – As e-bikes and e-scooters become more common across Northeast Florida neighborhoods, one Atlantic Beach father says parents need more tools to help keep young riders safe.
Derik Treuel, who moved to Jacksonville to attend the University of North Florida and has lived in the area since, created an app called Rygiene. Treuel said the app is designed to help parents review how their child rode after each trip — including speed, stop sign behavior and whether the rider appeared to be using a phone.
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“I think e-bikes are dangerous and us as parents who have kids, we need to take this stuff serious,” Treuel told News4JAX.
Treuel said the idea came from his own experience as a parent.
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“My son has an e-bike, and I’ve always been on the fence,” he said, adding that friends have been seriously injured on e-bikes. “I wanted to see if there was a way that I could track his rides and find out how the rides went and I couldn’t find anything out there so I started building it.”
How the app works
Treuel said Rygiene uses the child’s iPhone tracking and GPS to monitor rides on e-bikes and e-scooters. Parents can check where a rider is, and after the ride, look back at a map recap showing what happened along the route.
During a demonstration, Treuel showed how parents can review previous rides and tap into a “replay” feature.
“It’s a map that shows exactly what happened on each ride,” he said. “This is when you can talk to your child… ‘Why were you on your cell phone right here?’ Going 13 miles an hour. That’s pretty dangerous.”
He also showed a “slow zone” feature, where parents can set rules around certain areas — like routes near school — and set speed limits.
‘A good opportunity for you to ride along with them’
Treuel emphasized the app isn’t meant to replace other safety steps, like helmets and rider education, but to help parents have better conversations with kids about real-world decision-making on the road.
“When a kid drives his car for the first time he rides in a car with a parent for up to a year,” Treuel said. “With e-bike riding you don’t really have that opportunity to do that. So this is a good opportunity for you to ride along with them in a way.”
Treuel told News4JAX he’s seen changes at home since using the app.
“It’s been night and day,” he said, describing improvements in his son’s riding.
Where it’s available
Treuel said Rygiene is available in app stores and can be used across the U.S. The app requires the child to have an iPhone because it relies on phone tracking and GPS.