The Youth E-Bike Health and Safety Crisis: From Clinic to Community to Policy

Phyllis Agran

E-bike sales and youth ridership have grown rapidly, and pediatric trauma linked to e-bikes has risen sharply across the U.S. Policy has not kept pace with how quickly these devices are being adopted. This session gives an overview of the three classes of e-bikes and the regulations that apply to them. It then looks at why children face higher injury risk: the speed and kinetic energy involved, low helmet use, developmental limitations, and environmental factors.

Presenters will cover the pediatric injury patterns seen in clinical practice: head and cranial injuries, internal organ injuries, orthopaedic injuries, and burns and electrical injuries from lithium-ion battery malfunctions. They will also compare how severe these injuries are next to injuries from regular bicycles. The session closes with prevention strategies drawn from the literature, including helmet use, age restrictions, environmental strategies and legislation. Attendees will leave with evidence-informed messaging and educational tools for youth, families, communities and policymakers, and a way to move e-bike injury prevention forward in clinical practice, community education and advocacy.

1. Describe e-bike classifications, regulations and pediatric injury patterns.
2. Apply evidence-informed safety messaging and educational tools for youth, families, community and policymakers.
3. Develop an action plan to advance e-bike injury prevention through clinical practice, community education and advocacy.

Injury Prevention Leadership in Youth E-Bike Harm Reduction

Marlene Melzer-Lange, MD
Phyllis Agran, MD, MPH, MA
Jamie Holland, MD
Romeo Ignacio, MD
Lorrie Lynn, MA, CPSTI

Time: 20 minutes Introduction & Rapid Rounds: Small Group Formation: 20 minutes Small Group Report Back & Discussion: 15 minutes with final Comments 5 minutes This 60 minute interactive workshop builds on the keynote presentation on the growing youth e-bike safety crisis by moving participants from awareness to practical action. Through facilitated small-group discussion, participants will examine how we as injury prevention leaders can respond to rising pediatric e-bike injuries through education, harm reduction, advocacy, and partnership development. In preparation for the workshop, participants will be asked to review their state’s e-bike and helmet laws using a designated state law resource website and complete a worksheet with preliminary information related to minimum rider age, helmet requirements, passenger restrictions, speed limits, licensing and registration, and permitted riding locations such as sidewalks, bike paths, and streets. During the workshop, participants will work in facilitated small groups organized by regions to discuss how they could identify specific actions in their own region from the clinic to the community to the state or local policy makers. Groups will then identify three priority concerns amendable to action. Examples may include lack of helmet use, unsafe passenger practices, excessive speeds, distracted riding, weak enforcement, limited parent awareness, or inadequate infrastructure. This could include trainings for pediatricians and other stakeholders related to public and parent awareness and social media campaigns. Participants will also identify potential partners needed to address these concerns, such as schools, law enforcement, trauma centers, public health departments, parent organizations, transportation planners, retailers, or youth-serving organizations. The workshop will include applied communication exercises focused on both advocacy and family engagement. Each group will prepare a brief “elevator speech” aimed at a local policymaker or community leader advocating for stronger youth e-bike safety measures. Finally, participants will identify at least one realistic action they could implement within the next three months and determine who they would partner with to advance that effort. The workshop will conclude with group report-outs and facilitated discussion to share key themes, innovative ideas, advocacy strategies, and opportunities for collaboration across communities and disciplines.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Describe their state and local e-bike laws related to youth riders, including helmet use, rider age, passenger restrictions, and riding locations.
2. Identify and prioritize three community harm-reduction strategies to address youth e-bike injuries and unsafe riding behaviors.
3. Develop communication strategies for counseling families and advocating with policymakers about youth e-bike safety, mindful of equity issues.
4. Identify key partners and stakeholders needed to advance clinic-, community-, and/or policy-level interventions.
5. Create one actionable next step to implement within the next three months.