Local doctor warns about the rise in E-bike and E-scooter injuries

ST.PETERSBURG, Fla. — A local doctor has a warning all parents and children need to hear.

Dr. Meghan Martin is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. Earlier this month, she posted a video on her social media pages about the increase in injuries doctors in the emergency room are seeing related to e-bikes and e-scooters. 

WATCH: Local doctor warns about the rise in E-bike and E-scooter injuries

ABC Action News Anchor Lauren St. Germain visited Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital to discuss the recent spike in injuries with Dr. Martin, expressing her concern.

It is important to note that ABC Action News doesn’t know which e-bikes and e-scooters were involved in the accidents that brought the children to the emergency room, or if the kids owned or rented them. The video in this story showcases some of the options available to rent in the Tampa Bay Area.

“It’s something that I want to raise the alarm about because I think parents need to know these are not just like bicycles that kids are riding. There is more power that’s behind them. They are going faster, we need to take these more seriously,” said Dr. Martin.

“When did you start to see the increase?” asked St. Germain.

“We’ve seen this increase over the last couple of years, maybe three or four years. But it seems to be increasing year over year, and we are just seeing a ton of these injuries now. I feel like almost every other trauma is related to an e-bike or e-scooter,” explained Dr. Martin.

“What do you tell parents when these kids come in? What’s that conversation like?” asked St. Germain.

“I think it’s really important to think of these e-bikes and e-scooters almost like motorcycles. Kids need to be in appropriate safety gear. They should be wearing helmets, they should be wearing not flipflops or sandals but full foot sneakers, covered shoes, covered toes. They should also be in long pants, long sleeves in case they were to crash,” said Dr. Martin.

She continued, “I made this video because I think it’s important for kids, parents, and lawmakers to know that this is a big deal. We are seeing a lot of these injuries and maybe we need to consider some legislation going forward to help protect not only the drivers but also these kids on e-bikes and e-scooters.

Dr. Martin said the trauma alerts are often kids on e-bikes or e-scooters involved in crashes with cars. She’s also seeing a lot of kids coming through the front door after they’ve gone over the handlebars with injuries to the face, broken arms, scrapes, and bruises.

Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital reported the number of patients admitted to the hospital due to their injuries or transferred there by ambulance. These numbers don’t account for injuries where patients could go home the same day.

E-bike
              2023 – none admitted to hospital with severe injuries
              2024 – 20 severe injuries
              6 months of 2025 – 18 severe injuries
E-scooter
              2023 – 11 severe injuries
              2024 – 3 severe injuries
              6 months of 2025 – 15 severe injuries