Rethinking E-Bikes: The Hidden Dangers for Our Kids

[00:00:03] Travis: Hey there. I'm Travis Patterson, and welcome to Driving Change. Here, you're gonna find unfiltered insights and hard hitting questions that challenge the status quo in law and in life. As a personal injury lawyer in Fort Worth, Texas, I see firsthand how challenges like distracted driving and other just general family safety issues really impact our community every single day, but I refuse to accept these problems as inevitable. In this podcast, we're gonna dig deep into real world problems, bringing you practical solutions from my experiences in practicing law, raising a family, and running my own business.

[00:00:32] Travis: I'm not here to preach to anybody. I'm here to simply ask questions and start conversations that make you think differently and provide you actual advice that you can use right away in your own life. So welcome to driving change. Let's get to it.

[00:00:44] Travis: Alright, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the driving change podcast. I am Travis Patterson. Pleasure to be with you guys here today. Mixing it up a little bit.

[00:00:51] Travis: Doing these podcasts in our office sometimes when we don't have a guest because it's just gonna be easier to get out content to you guys. Wanted to jump on this because it's the holidays. I know people are out there busy shopping for your kids and things like that. God bless you for doing it. It's a crazy time of year, but I wanna specifically talk about eBikes and eSkeeters because there's there's just a lot going on with that right now.

[00:01:13] Travis: So in case you didn't see a couple of weeks ago, I actually had the pleasure of being interviewed by Madison Sawyer from CBS DFW about this topic, about, really any hidden risks and common presence that kids get at the holidays. Talked about, you know, obviously, small kids, choking hazards, things like that. But what we were really out there to talk about was e bikes and e scooters. Rising popularity. You you you're starting to see them all over the place, especially in neighborhoods where there's lots of families, lots of kids, and we're seeing a lot of problems associated with that.

[00:01:44] Travis: It's not something I was really privy to at first because, you know, we live out in the country. We we don't live in a neighborhood with a lot of kids. But I was down in Austin for Halloween, went down there that weekend to take my kids to the UT football game, and it just happened to be it was an early game. So we went down the day before, which was Halloween. And so I hung out with friends of mine from college, Hal and Kelly, and went trick or treating with them and their kids.

[00:02:07] Travis: It was crazy. We we kinda started trick or treating at, you know, four or 05:00, something like that. And Hal and I are walking around the neighborhood, and he's like, hey. What are you what are y'all seeing with these e bikes? Because it that it's just crazy.

[00:02:19] Travis: It's like, what are talking about? He's like, yeah. There's every day at four or 05:00, you know, whenever all the kids are home from school, there's just five or six kids in his neighborhood, just teenagers, just flying around on these e bikes. There's two of them on an e bike. They're not wearing helmets.

[00:02:34] Travis: They've got AirPods in. They're looking at their phones. They're holding stuff on the back on their back, just flying around, zooming in and out of traffic. You know? He said, it was just crazy.

[00:02:42] Travis: And then sure enough, you know, we're trick or treating, and it's starting to get dark. And so you know? And I'm you know? Obviously, safety is very important to me just as a dad and what I do for a living. So when I'm at trick or treating with my kids, you know, they're gonna be pretty close.

[00:02:58] Travis: We're out there walking around, and sure enough, two teenagers on one e bike come flying right through our group. I mean, they I'm I'm literally separated from my kids by these teenagers zooming by on an eBike. And it really just kinda hit me like, wow. This is a huge problem. And then sure enough, you know, I put out stuff there on social media and and talked to the parents who live in, you know, neighborhoods with lots of other families, and we're seeing this kind of issue happen in a lot of neighborhoods.

[00:03:27] Travis: You know? So it's not just in Austin. It's not just in Fort Worth where we hang out, but it's it's all over. So kinda dug into this issue and, figure out what's going on. E bikes are incredibly dangerous.

[00:03:40] Travis: Like, I I don't know if you need me to tell you that. These things a class three e bike, for example, can go 28 miles per hour. Okay? So there's three there's they they break these down by classes based on what the e bike can do. A class three e bike, 28 miles an hour.

[00:03:54] Travis: Class one, class two max out at 20 miles an hour, which is still very, very fast for a child to be going. If you just look at the data don't take my word for it. This is the graphic that we gave to CBS, and they put on their they put on the the broadcast. This is from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Okay?

[00:04:14] Travis: This is national data. USA Today reported this data last year. This data caps out. This is I want you to pay attention to this. This data just goes until the 2024.

[00:04:25] Travis: In 2020, 2021, 2022, and '23, ER were the injuries from micro mobility vehicles. There was a slight rise to it, but it wasn't drastic. So for example, in 2021, fifty thousand three hundred. 2022, fifty six thousand and eight hundred. 2023, sixty four thousand three hundred.

[00:04:50] Travis: But pay attention to this. In 2024, that number spiked from to one hundred and eighteen thousand. It almost doubled from twenty '3 to twenty four, from sixty four thousand to a hundred and eighteen thousand emergency room worthy injuries from micromobility vehicles. A micro mobility vehicle, of course, is a e bike, e scooter, or a hoverboard, things like that. So 2024, almost doubles, hundred and eighteen thousand.

[00:05:21] Travis: Then we go into 2025. Of course, we don't have the year end data yet. It is December. But as of October, Penn State, the Penn State Pediatric Hospital, put out an article that says, the Medical Minute, EVOC and e scooter injuries are on the rise in children, what every parent should know. Pay attention to this.

[00:05:42] Travis: Emergency emergency departments nationwide are reporting spikes in serious injuries and even deaths among children riding electric bikes, electric scooters, and other micro mobility devices. At Penn State Health Children's Hospital, doctors have already treated more kids injured in e scooter and e bike accidents in 2025 than in the prior three years combined. Okay? I just talked about how in 2024, the numbers doubled. 2025, the numbers are going up exponentially.

[00:06:09] Travis: Quote, we have seen an alarming increase in the number of kids who experience serious trauma while riding e bikes and e scooters, said Brianna Emmer, pediatric trauma medical director at Penn State Health Children's Hospital. Parents need to know the risks before letting their child ride these vehicles, end quote. Amen. Parents need to know the risks. Parents need to stop thinking that this stuff cannot happen to them, that their kids are somehow better than other kids at driving these things.

[00:06:36] Travis: It's a ridiculous assumption. As the Penn State medical director said, it's happening nationwide. Here in North Texas, where I'm at, Cook Children's is the big pediatric hospital, at least in Fort Worth. They said the same thing. On September 12, over the past few weeks, Cook Children's has seen an uptick in injuries due to e bikes and e scooters, end quote.

[00:06:59] Travis: Talk to any pediatric hospital across the country. Call the one in your location and ask them what they are seeing with EBOX and eScooters. And I'll bet you a beer that they are seeing a spike. One of the issues is that we don't have clear guidance on this stuff. This stuff is so new.

[00:07:17] Travis: Legislators at the state level are not known for acting quickly, if you've been paying attention to to any state politics. Here in Texas, our legislator meets every two years, which, you know, I'm not I'm certainly not a proponent of them meeting more frequently, but it just takes them a while to address stuff like this. It just does. The the laws on the books for on the state level for e bikes are there's just not many. Pretty sparse.

[00:07:45] Travis: You must be 15 to ride a class three e bike in the state of Texas. So the ones that go 28 miles per hour, gotta be 15. And anybody under the age of 18 has to wear a helmet on class three e bikes. What about class one, class two e bikes? I already told you those go up to 20 miles per hour.

[00:08:02] Travis: Any state law on those? Nope. Could a 10 year old ride a class two e bike? By the way, difference of class one and class two is just whether or not these are pedal assist only or throttle. You can go with a throttle, like a little motorcycle.

[00:08:17] Travis: Can a 10 year old ride a 20 mile per hour motorcycle without a helmet in the state of Texas? I'm not aware of a state law that says they can't. Now there's a lot of local laws on this. Not not I mean, it just depends on what city you're in. Colleyville, I believe, up in North Texas, has some pretty robust state city ordinances on kids and E Bikes.

[00:08:38] Travis: I believe Frisco, Southlake, towns like that. So whatever town you're in, you just need to check what those local laws are. But the local laws, they're just they're they're I mean, they're a good place to start for sure, but they're likely not enough. So what is going on here? Why are so many kids getting e bikes and e scooters?

[00:08:56] Travis: I think it it it kinda reminds me of what John and Elizabeth Batten and I talked about on a previous podcast with kids and social media. It is a collective problem. And what they mean by that is Johnny is getting a cell phone and social media too early because Grant has a cell phone, and Bobby has a cell phone, and everyone else has a cell phone. And so Johnny needs a cell phone to keep up with them. We're giving our kids cell phones and social media too early because everyone else is doing it.

[00:09:31] Travis: We don't want our kids to get left out. It's almost the exact same thing with these e bikes. Johnny's getting an e bike so he can go out and keep up with his friends because they have e bikes too. Even if Johnny's parents know that this is probably too early for Johnny, we don't want poor Johnny to get left out. Just like with cell phones and social media, collective problems like this require collective solutions.

[00:09:55] Travis: I highly encourage parents, especially parents in neighborhoods, you know, where kids hang out. You know you know who these people are. Parents need to start talking about this. Even before. You gotta do it before the cat's out of the bag, just like with cell phones and social media.

[00:10:15] Travis: I mean, we we have groups of parents in my kid's schools for our second grade families. We started in first grade. We started last spring. We got together and said, hey. Let let's hold off on the cell phone social media thing.

[00:10:26] Travis: You know? It's easy now. They're only in first grade, but we know it's coming. So let's agree now to stick together. I I think this eBikes conversation is very similar.

[00:10:37] Travis: If you're in a neighborhood and your kids are out riding bicycles all the time, God bless you. That's awesome. I'm a big proponent of getting your kids outside and letting them ride bikes. Just not e bikes. Why do our kids have to go so much faster?

[00:10:52] Travis: Why do our kids have to lose the benefit of the physical exercise that a normal bicycle provides? My kids are big bikers. Mountain biking, riding around where we live, We love that kind of stuff, and they crash their bikes. I mean, this stuff look. This is not about bubble wrapping your kids.

[00:11:10] Travis: I get accused of that sometimes, especially when I talk about trampoline parks, but I'm not gonna go there right now. But I'm all for letting your kids do things that have an element of danger to them. Mountain biking is a great example. But we sure do not let our kids hop on those mountain bikes without protective equipment, without taking the proper steps of training and supervision. You know, we start on a small hill, and we work our way up.

[00:11:37] Travis: And we've learned the hard way that you've gotta have the the right helmets, the right pads, all that kind of stuff. So this is not about bumper wrapping your kids, but you have to draw the line somewhere. And where I draw the line is kids on e bikes interacting with traffic. Now e scooters, specifically e scooters, I can't tell you how many of my friends have told me about them crashing those e scooters. You know those ones that you can rent when you go to certain places?

[00:12:06] Travis: I don't even know how it works. I've never done it, but I've got so many buddies that have face planted on those things. Obviously, little wheels get caught and little potholes and things like that or hit a curb, and they go flying off of them. I don't know how those things got became a thing just all over the place when you go down to Austin or some other town. Nashville.

[00:12:30] Travis: Saw them all over Nashville. But, you know, if you're growing up and you wanna go hop on an e scooter, you do your thing. It's none of my business. And, really you know? And if you want your kid to ride an e bike, that's your call as a parent, obviously.

[00:12:43] Travis: My position here is just I want you to make an informed decision. Like, you need to know. It's not just the dangers of it. Okay? I I think people, if they stop thinking about it, they can understand and agree with that.

[00:12:54] Travis: Like, there's an element of danger here. And we as parents, we all have varying levels of acceptable dangers that we will let our kids encounter. I I get that. But what about the legal issues? Like, do you have you really thought about that side of the coin?

[00:13:11] Travis: What happens? K. And you've got to just shake this idea that bad things cannot happen to you or your family. K. You've gotta be prepared for that, and you gotta think about it.

[00:13:22] Travis: So what happens if your kid's on an e bike and he doesn't drive it as safely as he should? It causes a crash. What happens if he hits another kid, for example, in the neighborhood? Or if he's got a passenger on the back of his e bike and he crashes, and the kid on the back of the e bike gets hurt. So play out that scenario.

[00:13:43] Travis: Well, you might say, okay. Well, I I have insurance for stuff like that. No. You probably do not. Your car insurance, I can almost guarantee you, will exclude coverage for any motorized vehicle with less than two with excuse me, with less than four wheels.

[00:14:01] Travis: E bikes are gonna be excluded from your auto insurance. So you do not have insurance for e bike crashes. Very likely. Again, I'll bet you I'll bet you a beer on this one too. So what does that mean?

[00:14:14] Travis: Your personal assets are now exposed. K? Your cash, your investments, your vehicles. Now there's there's I'm I'm not gonna get into what assets are exempt from collection in the state of Texas after bankruptcy and all all that kind of stuff, homesets and how many vehicles. It that's that's a whole other conversation.

[00:14:36] Travis: That's a bankruptcy talk. But just the idea of having to consider bankruptcy and personal assets being exposed just because you were wanting your kid to go fly around an e bike, it's probably not worth it. And here's the other thing about the liability side of things. It's not just you. I mean, you're gonna get sued.

[00:14:57] Travis: K? If your kid causes a crash, you will get sued. I can almost guarantee you that. I know that because there's no there's there's not gonna be any negotiations. Like, a personal injury lawyer who gets that case isn't gonna be able to call, you know, your insurance.

[00:15:10] Travis: Like I just said, it's gonna be excluded. There's gonna be no pre litigation negotiations like there typically are in a car accident, for example. So to go straight into litigation, you'll get sued for negligent entrustment. And this isn't something that we do typically at our firm, but it is possible that your kid could get sued too. Okay?

[00:15:31] Travis: Kids can get sued for negligence in the state of Texas and in most states that I'm aware of. So do you really want your kid named in a lawsuit and having to go through that experience? Okay. So what if you say, okay. No, Patterson.

[00:15:45] Travis: My kid's not gonna be causing any injuries. My kid's my kid's awesome. Okay. Great. What if your kid gets hurt by somebody else?

[00:15:54] Travis: This is one of the big issues. I know how much distracted driving is going on in our neighborhoods, on our roads, on our highways. I mean, I think you guys all probably have an idea of this by now. You see it all the time, people staring at their phones while they're driving. And thinking through this.

[00:16:12] Travis: Right? The big problem here as it pertains to kids is we know drunk driving, for example, only not not only. Obviously, it can happen at any given point in time. But statistically, the majority of drunk driving happens late at night. In fact, if you look at a stretch in Texas over the past about ten years, a majority of all drunk driving accidents happen between the hours of two and 3AM on early Saturday and early Sunday mornings.

[00:16:46] Travis: Right? The one hour after the bars close on the weekends. Hopefully, our kids are in bed by then. So distracted driving is is the more present problem. So what happens if your kids get hurt by a distracted driver?

[00:17:01] Travis: You might say, okay. Well, I have underinsured motorist coverage for this. No. Again, you probably don't. Just like liability, your carrier is going to exclude coverage under your underinsured motorist coverage.

[00:17:15] Travis: Underinsured motor or, you know, UIM, we talk about all the time. It is the number one best way you can protect your families buying a lot of UIM insurance, but it protects your families when you're in vehicles or when you're a pedestrian. It almost always excludes coverage if you're on an e bike. So if your kid gets hurt, you will be limited to whatever coverage that driver half has. And because we know that when a kid gets hurt on an e bike, these are typically severe injuries, I can almost guarantee you there will not be enough insurance coverage to go around.

[00:17:54] Travis: You know, we're not talking about soft tissue sprains and strains here. So there's just a ton of exposure. And you might say, well, okay. I I have health insurance. Health insurance does not pay for a lot of things.

[00:18:10] Travis: It does not pay for how that injury might impact your kid for the rest of his life. It does not pay for disfigurement. It does not pay for loss of enjoyment. Just doesn't pay for the pain and suffering. There's so much more to an injury than just medical bills.

[00:18:25] Travis: And, again, I know it's not something we like to think about, but I think it's critically important. What are the solutions? Again, I think collective problems like this one require collective action. As John and Elizabeth Batten said on a previous podcast, get together with other parents in your community, Talk about a plan. Obviously, you can say no to your own kid.

[00:18:47] Travis: But if you're worried about, you know, your kid being ostracized or something like that, I don't know. But if if that's a serious concern of yours, talk to other parents. Get your HOA involved. Now this is really important to know. HOAs, you need to go consult with an HOA attorney on this issue.

[00:19:06] Travis: You should already have one. But if not, you need to get one. Talk to an HOA attorney about what you can and cannot do here. There's gonna be limits to this. E bikes are classified as bicycles in the state of Texas, which is bizarre.

[00:19:21] Travis: So bicycles have certain rights on certain roads and public pathways and things like that, sidewalks. So there's not gonna there's only gonna be so much you can do as an HOA, in my opinion. This is not legal advice. I'm not an HOA attorney. But, yes, HOAs can and should start having these conversations.

[00:19:40] Travis: And, again, consult with an HOA attorney If you're gonna do this, if you're gonna let your kid hop on an e bike, you know, just like anything, please do it in steps. Train them, supervise them, give them the proper protection. A proper helmet would be a great place to start. Most people don't know this, but bicycle helmets are not the same thing as proper e bike helmets. An e bike helmet looks more like a motorcycle helmet, obviously, because of the speeds involved.

[00:20:12] Travis: Get your kids proper protection, proper training, proper supervision, and do it in steps. I remember it kinda reminds me of when I got my driver's license. My parents made me it's like they were breeding me to be a, you know, safety advocate, but they made me start in steps. I had to I had to log a certain amount of miles in my neighborhood, and then I could go, like, in a two mile radius, and then I can go, know, that kind of thing before I could just go out into the highway. It's it's just like that for EBOX two, starting steps.

[00:20:43] Travis: But please, before you do this, before you make that decision, just look at the data. If you wanna talk about any of this stuff, please reach out. I'd be happy to share my thoughts. I mean, obviously, most of them are right here, but but, yeah, this is crazy. The other thing I had I forgot to mention this.

[00:21:01] Travis: This is kinda how crazy we're getting as a society. Right? You can go on Amazon and buy for $200, and I'm certainly not advocating for this. Ages three to five, an electric balanced bike for kids that goes nine miles an hour. Jeez.

[00:21:20] Travis: Anne and I were were kinda doing some research, getting ready for the CBS deal, came across that and just jaws hit the floor. A three year old. Like, we our youngest kid is is about to be three, and, obviously, he can't even pedal a bike yet. So we're we're supposed to get him a electric bike. Give me a break.

[00:21:40] Travis: Like, I shouldn't have to tell you this, but kids can get plenty hurt at nine miles per hour. Their head hits the their concrete. Anyway, those are my thoughts. E bikes are rising in popularity, but they are also severely, severely rising in trips to the ER. So think about it.

[00:21:59] Travis: Stay safe out there. Alright. See y'all next time.

[00:22:02] Travis: If you like today's episode, please subscribe to the podcast, and don't forget to leave us a review. It really does help us get the word out. As we dive into these important conversations about safety and about community, I'm reminded of why I became a personal injury lawyer in

[00:22:13] Travis: the first place.

[00:22:14] Travis: Every single day, I see people whose lives have been turned upside down because of some accident in one form or another. It's a confusing and overwhelming time, and it can feel impossible for folks to know where to turn. If you or someone you love have been in an accident like that and you need honest guidance, give us a call. We'll get to know you, get to know your story, and we will be with you every step of the way. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time.