With warmer temperatures recently, Utah is seeing an uptick in incidents and injuries involving e-bikes and e-scooters.
The trauma center at Intermountain Health Center has lately been seeing more people coming in with injuries due to misusing e-bikes or riding while impaired.
"Summers are typically our trauma season," said Intermountain nurse Katherine Stokes. "From 2024 to 2025, we saw a 66.7% increase in crashes when riders are using e-mobility devices. We're seeing children as young as 8 years old with devastating injuries."
"The most common and the most serious is the head injuries, the brain injuries," Dr. Don Van Borum added. "The level of trauma and impact that you can see from this. I think maybe there's a common misconception that while I'm just a bike, I'm really not going as fast as a car. I don't have as much power as a car, so I'm probably safe."
As the use of e-bikes grows in popularity, so does the number of people tampering with them. The Department of Public Safety is hearing concerns from citizens about e-bikes being used at inappropriate speeds in neighborhoods, city parks, and residential areas.
"A lot of the concerns that we're hearing from citizens are that these devices are being used in neighborhoods or inside of city parks or in residential areas where these speeds are just not appropriate," said Jason Mettmann with Utah DPS. "They're being modified so that they can go faster than what they were designed to do. All of these trends are concerning to us because [of] increased speeds, a lack of helmet use."
Citizens have expressed similar frustrations regarding safety and accountability on the roads.
"We need laws for bicyclists who don't follow traffic laws and e-bikes, e-scooters should have lights, turn signals, licensed and insured. Held accountable for their actions just as the vehicles are that have to share the road with them," said one viewer who emailed FOX 13 with the concern.
Utah lawmakers are trying to curb the trend with new legislation that updates the laws around e-bikes. Bicycles are considered vehicles, meaning riders must follow vehicle laws, including obeying traffic signals, signs, and road markings.
Under the new legislation:
- No one under age 8 can ride any e-bike on a public road.
- Starting May 6, all e-bike and e-scooter riders under 21 must wear CPSC helmets on roads, and e-motorcycles under 21 must use DOT-approved helmets.
- Devices that travel over 20 miles per hour without pedaling are considered e-motorcycles and require a driver's license and motorcycle endorsement.
- Those under 16 may not operate e-motorcycles or high-powered e-devices on any public road.It is illegal to operate any e-device impaired, or to alter one from its original design.
- Starting May 5, 2027, riders ages 8 to 15 must have direct supervision or a Department of Public Safety personal electric vehicle safety certificate.
- Riders ages 16 and older may ride on public roads without supervision.
"We really want to empower parents to make good decisions and help their kids ride safely," Stokes said.
"Parents, especially, need to think twice and really know what sort of instrument they're handing over to their kids," added Van Borum. "It's not a toy."
Portions of this story were reported on-air by a journalist and have been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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