Are E-Bikes Unsafe for Teens?

Fifteen-year-old Brodee Champlain-Kingman was riding an e-bike home from shot-putting practice in Encinitas, California. Suddenly, a Nissan van struck him as he turned left. His e-bike had a top speed of 20 miles per hour. But his route home took him on a busy road with a 55 m.p.h. speed limit.

Brodee’s mother, Clarissa Champlain, rushed to the hospital after the June crash. She could see the marks left by the chin strap of his bike helmet.

“I went to grab his head and kiss him,” she recalls. “But there was no back of his head. It wasn’t the skull; it was just mush.” Three days after the accident, doctors pronounced him dead from his injuries.

On the day Brodee died, another teen arrived at the same hospital. The e-bike he was riding collided with a car, leaving him sprawled beneath a BMW. He was hurt but alive.

The e-bike industry is booming, and the bikes have been praised for beginning to shift transportation away from cars and offering a relatively low-cost option for getting around. But accidents like these have provoked sharp questions about how safe e-bikes are, especially for teens, who tend to have more road accidents than adults.

Drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times as likely to die in a crash as drivers who are at least 20, and bicyclists ages 10 to 24 have the highest rate of emergency room visits for crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many e-bikes can exceed the 20-m.p.h. speed limit that’s legal for teen riders in most states; some can go faster than 55 miles per hour. But even when ridden at legal speeds, there are risks, especially for young, inexperienced riders merging into complex traffic with fast-moving cars and sometimes distracted drivers. On sidewalks, e-bikes can pose a threat to pedestrians.

“The speed they are going is too fast for sidewalks, but it’s too slow to be in traffic,” says Jeremy Collis, a sergeant at the North Coastal Station of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating Brodee’s accident.

The e-bike industry is booming. The bikes have been praised for beginning to shift transportation away from cars. They offer a relatively low-cost option for getting around. But accidents like these have provoked sharp questions about how safe e-bikes are, especially for teens. They tend to have more road accidents than adults.

Drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times as likely to die in a crash as drivers who are at least 20. Bicyclists ages 10 to 24 have the highest rate of emergency room visits for crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many e-bikes can exceed the 20 m.p.h. speed limit that’s legal for teen riders in most states. Some can go faster than 55 miles per hour. But even when ridden at legal speeds, there are risks. This is true especially for young, inexperienced riders. Risks include merging into complex traffic with fast-moving cars and sometimes distracted drivers. On sidewalks, e-bikes can pose a threat to pedestrians.

“The speed they are going is too fast for sidewalks, but it’s too slow to be in traffic,” says Jeremy Collis, a sergeant at the North Coastal Station of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating Brodee’s accident.

To some policymakers and law enforcement officials, e-bike technology has far outpaced existing laws and safety guidelines. Police and industry officials say some companies appear to knowingly sell products that can easily evade speed limits. This endangers young riders and others in their path.

“It’s not like a bicycle,” Collis says. “But the laws are treating it like any bicycle.”

Two federal agencies, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, say they’re evaluating how best to oversee the safety of e-bikes.

In the meantime, communities have begun to alert their residents to the dangers of e-bikes. In June, the police department in Bend, Oregon, ran a public service campaign. It showed the public the e-bike laws that were frequently being broken there. Days later, a 15-year-old boy died when a van collided with him on his e-bike.

Sheila Miller, the spokeswoman for the Bend police, says not everything calling itself an e-bike qualifies as one or is safe or legal for minors. Under Oregon law, as well as in 23 other states, a person must be at least 16 to ride an e-bike of any kind. Fourteen states have no age limits at all.

The typical e-bike has functioning pedals as well as a motor that’s recharged with an electrical cord; the pedals and the motor can be used individually or simultaneously.

Some people, including Rachel Hultin of Bicycle Colorado, a nonprofit advocacy group for bicycle safety and policy, say the U.S. e-bike industry, which could sell roughly 1 million bikes this year, is vital in shifting the transportation system away from emission-spewing cars and the congestion they create.

The minimal regulation around e-bikes is a selling point for the industry.

“It’s one of the very unique categories of vehicle that there really isn’t any kind of onerous regulation,” says LeGrand Crewse, co-founder of Super73, an e-bike company.

Sheila Miller, the spokeswoman for the Bend police, says not everything calling itself an e-bike qualifies as one. Nor are they safe or legal for minors. Under Oregon law, as well as in 23 other states, a person must be at least 16 to ride an e-bike of any kind. Fourteen states have no age limits at all.

The typical e-bike has functioning pedals as well as a motor that’s recharged with an electrical cord. The pedals and the motor can be used individually or simultaneously.

Some people, including Rachel Hultin of Bicycle Colorado, a nonprofit advocacy group for bicycle safety and policy, say the U.S. e-bike industry, is vital in shifting the transportation system away from emission-spewing cars. It could also ease the congestion created by cars. Roughly 1 million bikes could be sold this year,

The minimal regulation around e-bikes is a selling point for the industry.

“It’s one of the very unique categories of vehicle that there really isn’t any kind of onerous regulation,” says LeGrand Crewse, co-founder of Super73, an e-bike company.

But that could soon change. The California legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit e-bike use for those under 12 and move toward the creation of an e-bike license program with a written test and a state-issued photo ID for those without valid driver’s licenses.

That’s welcome news to Collis of the San Diego County sheriff’s office.

“With all these bikes, you should have at least a permit or a license to ride them at the speed they’re going,” he says.

Any new regulations will come too late to save people like Brodee Champlain-Kingman, a beloved young man who spoke fluent Spanish and could dead-lift 300 pounds. In 2020, he was named student of the year at his high school.

His mother says witnesses had told her that her son “did everything right,” including signaling to make a left turn.

“There should be more education for drivers with the change that’s happened,” she says. “I’d never seen an e-bike on the road until three years ago. Now I see hundreds. . . . They’re treated like bicycles when they’re not. They’re not equal.”

But that could soon change. The California legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit e-bike use for those under 12. It would also move toward the creation of an e-bike license program with a written test and a state-issued photo ID for those without valid driver’s licenses.

That’s welcome news to Collis of the San Diego County sheriff’s office.

“With all these bikes, you should have at least a permit or a license to ride them at the speed they’re going,” he says.

Any new regulations will come too late to save people like Brodee Champlain-Kingman. He was a beloved young man who spoke fluent Spanish. He could dead-lift 300 pounds. In 2020, he was named student of the year at his high school.

His mother says witnesses had told her that her son “did everything right.” He signaled to make a left turn.

“There should be more education for drivers with the change that’s happened,” she says. “I’d never seen an e-bike on the road until three years ago. Now I see hundreds. . . . They’re treated like bicycles when they’re not. They’re not equal.”

Matt Richtel writes about young people for The New York Times.

Matt Richtel writes about young people for The New York Times.