More kids, teens injured in e-bike wrecks, study finds

Big issue in Australia. Campaigns with strong epidemiological input from the hospitals some time ago (decades) here led to compulsory cycle helmets and demonstrated a massive drop in life-altering head injuries. It's very likely the same kind of pressure is going to be widely supported. (at the time, and continuing, many bike riders opposed helmets but it's pretty well normalised now, and widely supported. Police periodically do stop-and-fine on scooter riders)

I've been in traffic when a small mob of <16yo riders have ostentatiously driven to the front of the red light queue, and zoomed off on a wheelie. They are having a ball, and have zero consciousness of their exposure to risk. No helmets, no signalling, no road rules, no future.

We're looking at an under 16s ban, at tighter speed limits, more Geofenced areas. Across bikes, scooters, devices in general. Most of the sexy bikes appear to be grey market imports with trivial speed limit bypass hacks. They are basically electronic motorbikes with a high torque motor, can do 50kph/plus, and have the "must pedal to operate motor" function disabled. They are meant to be speed limited to 25kph. The accident consequence curve for speed looks very non-linear. Go from 25 to 40, its more than double. 40+ it very quickly becomes lethal.

There will also be pushback. Accusations this is "the nanny state" -We had that when calls for mandatory quad bike rollbars came in. This is despite very clear statistics again from medical sources, of the frequency of quadraplegia related to quad-bike rollovers. Well named vehicle indeed.

The photo of the e-bike shown is the not the kind that causes the wrecks, those are so called 'fat-bikes' that don't have a governor, are ridiculously fast and don't work in assist mode. They're essentially just battery powered motor cycles.

Kids around where I live ride them without helmets and not that long ago one was killed right next door because of riding into a stationary car. It is really on the parents that let kids have these devices without considering the risks.

There is a big discussion in NL powered by one particularly dumb minister about whether or not these can be banned or not, because it is supposedly a gray area in the law but it really isn't: these are illegal under the law as it is and could be confiscated and destroyed the only thing missing is the will to do so. I wonder how many more kids will have to be killed before they will realize that there is a difference between a regular e-bike and these.