E-bike, scooter injuries among children are a public health crisis, doctors on Long Island say

Trauma doctors are warning parents who buy their kids e-bikes or electric scooters that injury numbers are surging, along with the severity of the injuries. 

Northwell Health doctors on Long Island say the daily injuries amount to a public health crisis, with parents able to make the difference. 

There's been a shockingly sharp increase in hospitalizations amid a summer of e-bike and e-scooter crashes, especially among children below the legal age of 16 to ride an e-bike, the doctors say. 

"We have seen patients 8 and even younger who may not have their own, but they get on their friends' or their big brother's [e-bike]," Dr. Richard Scriven said.   

At South Shore University Hospital, doctors say across Northwell, their hospitals are admitting around 40 patients each per year with severe injuries. 

"Often these kids go very fast without a helmet and they get a very devastating head injury," Scriven said. 

Some of the incidents are deadly. 

Police say giving an e-bike to a child under 16 can also result in fines for parents. 

"Allowing your 14-year-old child to operate an e-bike, particularly without a helmet, is really not much different than giving them a loaded handgun," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said. 

As injuries spike nationwide, Harvard childhood injury prevention researcher Dr. Cornelia Griggs warns e-bikes are not bicycles and children do not know the rules of the road.

"If you would not buy your child a motorcycle or a moped, please do not buy them an e-bike. The injury pattern we are seeing in the trauma bay is more like vehicle injuries," Griggs said. 

"Many people in the public don't understand what they are buying, or what they might get their children," Suffolk Police Deputy Chief of Patrol David Regina said. 

So far this year, Suffolk Police confiscated more than 200 e-bikes not street legal in the county. Some can go as fast as 50 mph. 

"Those are the ones we caught," Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said.