Dr. Natalia Barron Cervantes is a pediatric research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Cassandra M. Kelleher is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an assistant chief medical officer for quality and safety at MGH. Dr. Peter T. Masiakos is a professor at Harvard Medical School and director of pediatric trauma services at MGH.
Massachusetts is considered a national leader in several areas of public safety. Injury prevention laws focused on off-highway vehicle safety and safe driving have resulted in significant decreases in deaths and injuries. But a safety conscious state cannot continue to allow children and adults to ride certain motorized vehicles, some capable of highway speeds, with little oversight.
On Friday, a 13‑year‑old boy in Stoneham was tragically killed when the electric dirt bike he was driving crashed into a car. This child’s death is not an isolated incident. It is part of a growing and preventable trend of e‑mobility injuries that trauma centers across the country are seeing with alarming frequency, now involving vehicles that travel far more than legal speeds. Yet laws across the United States have not kept pace.
Unlike traditional bicycles and scooters, e-mobility blurs the line between pedal power and motorized transport, making it harder to regulate. In Massachusetts, laws exist but are patchwork at best: There is a limit to the class of bike that can be ridden on public roads, but many can exceed the speed limits allowed under current regulations. Age restrictions are vague and depend on the type of bike that is being ridden; helmet enforcement, limited to riders under the age of 16, is inconsistent; and licensing requirements are not well described especially for high-speed e-bikes. The result is a dangerous gray area in which children and adults can ride powerful machines on public roads without adequate safeguards, and sometimes in violation of existing law.
Marketed as fun, eco‑friendly, and accessible to young riders, e‑bikes and e-scooters have surged in popularity. But beneath the glossy ads lies a sobering reality. These machines are not traditional bicycles nor e-scooters. E-scooters can reach speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour, some e-bikes can be illegally modified to travel at speeds up to 50 miles per hour (far beyond the legal maximum of 28 miles per hour), and e‑dirt bikes can top 100 miles per hour. Many of these “bikes” have the characteristics of motor vehicles but are often operated with no training, no protective gear, and little understanding of traffic laws.
The consequences are devastating. A recent study reported a 293 percent increase in e-bike injuries and an 88 percent rise in powered scooter injuries between 2019 and 2023. Scientific literature also demonstrates that children aged 10 to 13 account for nearly 44 percent of all e-bike injuries. In 2023, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a report calling attention to the rising rate of injuries associated with all micromobility devices. In another cross-sectional study of 86,623 individuals, e-bicycle injuries were shown to have increased by nearly 100 percent and e-scooter injuries increased by more than 45 percent annually.
The trauma we see as doctors includes massive head and facial injuries, chest crush injuries, and spinal fractures. Helmets help, but at highway-level speeds they are not enough.
The state must enact safety regulations that include:
▪ Minimum age requirements: Children under 16 should not operate e‑bikes or e-dirt bikes of any class.
▪ Mandatory helmet laws: Helmets and safety equipment must be required by all riders above the age of 16, with enforcement mechanisms in place for all e-bikes and e-scooters.
▪ Licensing and training: Riders of higher‑speed e‑bikes (Class 2 and 3, and e-dirt bikes) should undergo safety training and carry a permit, just as motorcyclists do.
▪ Speed and road restrictions: All e‑bikes should continue to be prohibited from sidewalks and playgrounds. In addition, high-speed models should be treated like motor vehicles, with drivers abiding by all regulations when driven on public roads. Riding on bike paths and rail trails should not be left to the discretion of towns, but instead should be regulated consistently across the state as these bike paths can cross many townships.
▪ Manufacturer accountability: Companies must move beyond “warned against behaviors” and clearly label speed capabilities and age recommendations, and face penalties for misleading marketing and selling vehicles that violate existing law.
Parents, lawmakers, and communities must recognize that e-bikes, e-dirt bikes, and e‑motorcycles, and e-scooters are not harmless gadgets. They are motorized vehicles that are heavy, fast, complicated to control, and dangerous. E-mobility vehicles should demand the same respect and regulation as cars and motorcycles.
Let us honor the memory of the child from Stoneham by ensuring no other family suffers the same fate. Prevention remains the most powerful medicine the state has.