AURORA, Colo. — Emergency room doctors at Children’s Hospital Colorado say they’re seeing a major increase in serious injuries tied to e-bikes and e-scooters.
“As the temperatures get warmer, we tend to see more trauma-related accidents. That trend holds true in our e-bike injuries,” Children’s Hospital Colorado Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician & Medical Director of EMS and Critical Care Transport, Dr. Maria Mandt said.
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Children’s Hospital Colorado Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician & Medical Director of EMS and Critical Care Transport Dr. Maria Mandt
E-bike injuries have jumped nearly 184% in just one year for the hospital, with e-scooter injuries up 84%.
“In the Children’s Hospital Colorado Anschutz emergency department in Aurora, last year, we saw 62 e-bike and e-scooter injuries that required trauma surgeon intervention. That really speaks to the increasing frequency of the accidents and the increasing speeds kids are using on these bikes,” Dr. Mandt said.
Most of those crashes involved high speeds, loss of control, and children not wearing helmets.
“They’re still relatively new and trendy. I think they are convenient and accessible for a lot of families,” Children’s Hospital Colorado Injury Prevention & Outreach Specialist Alicia Melven said.
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Children’s Hospital Colorado Injury Prevention & Outreach Specialist Alicia Melven
The growing popularity of e-bikes and e-scooters is leading to more kids on the road.
“With more people using them, there’s more interactions with traffic, and I think that’s why we’re seeing a lot more injuries,” Melven said.
Residents Denver7 spoke with are also seeing the growing popularity and the unsafe speeds at which they go.
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Denver resident Benjamin Dunn
“There are just tons of e-bikes around here. No doubt they are all over the place and go really fast,” said Benjamin Dunn, a Denver resident.
32% of the hospital’s e-bike trauma patients were hurt in crashes involving a motor vehicle.
“When accidents do happen, children are catapulted off the front, lead with their heads, and end up with quite severe facial injuries. and neck trauma,” Dr. Mandt said.
Nearly half of the kids treated at Children’s Hospital Colorado were not wearing a helmet. When they do, doctors often see kids wearing the wrong type of helmet.
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Children’s Hospital Colorado Anschutz campus in Aurora
“Standard bike helmets are geared to protect the head when you are going 12 to 15 miles an hour. E-bikes are going far faster than that, and so investing in an e-bike-specific helmet is going to protect your child much better,” Dr. Mandt said.
Doctors told Denver7 that aftermarket modifications that allow e-bikes to go even faster are making the problem even more dangerous.
“When we have children on bikes going that speed, it becomes quite difficult for them to control the steering,” Dr. Mandt said.
Dr. Mandt added she expects these injuries to continue to increase unless more kids start wearing helmets and lawmakers start cracking down on high-speed e-bike modifications.
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