\n On Christmas Day, Jade Sharpe watched as her 13-year-old daughter Kennedi Chandler took her brand-new e-bike \u2013 capable of going about 20 mph \u2013 for a spin in their Indiana neighborhood.\n <\/p>\n
\n Her parents had a plan to get Kennedi a key piece of safety gear. But they didn\u2019t have the heart to say no when, on the unseasonably warm holiday, she asked to ride the electric bike she\u2019d begged them for \u2013 without a helmet<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Less than two hours later, the teenager hit the pavement.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe next thing I knew was flashing lights, and then just \u2026 heart sunk. You just know,\u201d Sharpe told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI didn\u2019t realize how bad it was until we were in the ambulance,\u201d Sharpe said. Even though they live in a big suburb of the state\u2019s biggest city, they weren\u2019t heading to the closest hospital. \u201cAnd then you realize we\u2019re going to the best trauma center Indianapolis has, and that\u2019s because that\u2019s what she needed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Kennedi sustained a traumatic brain injury and spent the next 20 days in the hospital, 14 in intensive care. Doctors had to remove part of her skull to quell the swelling and bleeding in her brain.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis surgeon,\u201d Sharpe said, \u201chas expressed how many bicycle accidents she\u2019s had come through over the years, and Kennedi is lucky \u2013 so very lucky.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But these aren\u2019t your mother\u2019s manual bicycles. Their colors are sleeker. Their tires are bigger. And, most importantly, they\u2019re outfitted with motors that can power them to speeds exceeding 30 mph.\n <\/p>\n \n Several cases this year in California highlight the risks: In Fresno, a 13-year-old<\/a> died and two other children were seriously injured in two separate e-bike crashes, police said. In Garden Grove, a 13-year-old boy<\/a> died after approaching a curve at around 35 mph and colliding with a center median while riding what authorities said was an electric motorcycle. And in Lake Forest, a 14-year-old<\/a> doing wheelies on an e-motorcycle \u2013 able to reach 56 mph \u2013 struck and killed an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran \ufeffwalking home from his job as a substitute teacher, the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office said.\n <\/p>\n \n The Lake Forest boy\u2019s mother \u2013 who prosecutors say<\/a> was previously warned it was illegal for her son to ride the e-motorcycle \u2013 now faces an involuntary manslaughter charge. Meanwhile, the Orange County district attorney has filed child endanger\ufeffment charges<\/a> against three parents this year for allowing children to ride electric motorcycles illegally, calling the devices \u201cdeadly weapons.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n As gas prices rise<\/a>, many in the cycling community have praised e-bikes as an eco-friendly and active alternative to other forms of transportation. But the spate of recent crashes involving children and teens \u2013 some riding high-powered motor vehicles they are not legally allowed to use \u2013 has prompted moves toward more regulation on the roads, transparency among sellers and a closer look by parents at what their c\ufeffhildren are really riding.\n <\/p>\n \n Atlanta emergency room physician, Dr. Darria Long, has become all too familiar with e-bike-related injuries in the last five to 10 years \u2013 including head injuries, fractures, concussions, chest injuries, cardiac arrest and even death.\n <\/p>\n \n Families who didn\u2019t realize the power of the bikes or motor vehicles their children were riding were often surprised to find themselves in an emergency room, the doctor said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey thought their kid was just doing something fun. They thought that by giving them a helmet, maybe they prevented all injuries \u2013 and then they\u2019re devastated, because every parent loves their child, and they don\u2019t want to see their child being injured. And they didn\u2019t know,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Following her late-December injury and weeks of missing school, Kennedi is now finishing her last round of occupational, physical and speech therapy. She\u2019s playing soccer again and is excited to get back on a bike \u2013 this time, her mom said, with a helmet.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt could be so much worse than what you think,\u201d Sharpe said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a broken bone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Between 2017 and 2024, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission documented 533 micromobility fatalities \u2013 a category that includes e-bikes, e-scooters and other small electric vehicles \u2013 rising from five in 2017 to 135 in 2024. Emergency department visits quadrupled in the same period, from 37,300 to 149,100, according to the commission\u2019s report<\/a>, published in April. E-bike deaths alone rose from zero in 2017 to 97 in 2024.\n <\/p>\n \n That doesn\u2019t include motorized vehicles like mopeds or e-motorcycles that exceed e-bike limits and fall outside the commission\u2019s scope but are often grouped under the e-bike umbrella in consumer consciousness and retail descriptions. As a result, some deadly crashes involving young riders aren\u2019t included in the count.\n <\/p>\n \n Children between the ages of 11 and 14 accounted for 61.7% of e-bike and e-motorcycle crashes, and injuries have spiked 430% in the last four years in Southern California alone, data cited<\/a> by the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office show.\n <\/p>\n \n The first factor is where these bikes are being ridden: often on public streets, alongside cars \u2013 some at speeds comparable to those of cars, Long said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere is no minor bicyclist-versus-vehicle hit when you\u2019re on public streets,\u201d Long said. \u201cA bicyclist on an e-bike \u2013 they\u2019re not going to win that battle versus a car.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And a helmet can only do so much.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYes, the helmet is making you safer than if you don\u2019t wear the helmet, but at these speeds that we\u2019re seeing, the trauma can be so bad that it can overcome the helmet,\u201d the ER doctor said. \u201cA helmet\u2019s not going to help you if the car is going 40 miles an hour and you\u2019re going 30.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n While Kennedi understands what happened to her, she doesn\u2019t remember the details of the crash itself or the trauma of this past Christmas, her mom said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m glad we can hold that burden, that weight, for her,\u201d Sharpe said.\n <\/p>\n \n For anxious parents who want to keep their own kids safe, Long has some advice: Never let children ride e-bikes on public streets; avoid modifications \u2013 bikes are sold with speed limits for a reason, and; outfit kids in full protective gear, including a motorcycle helmet and leather covering arms and legs.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEffectively, these are mini motorcycles,\u201d Long said. \u201cThe gear is not going to protect them in the biggest crashes, but it\u2019s at least going to kind of give them a leg up.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Last week, Amazon announced it would halt sales of e-bikes in California<\/a> that exceed state limits, requiring third-party sellers to comply with California law and removing noncompliant listings. The Orange County district attorney, Todd Spitzer, announced it as a win in his crackdown on parents who let their children illegally ride e-motorcycles or modified e-bikes.\n <\/p>\n \n But, Spitzer said, the move came only after a local television station contacted Amazon<\/a> about the sales \u2013 not after California\u2019s attorney general issued a consumer alert in April<\/a>, not after children had already died.\n <\/p>\n \n CNN has reached out to Amazon for comment.\n <\/p>\n \n AG Rob Bonta warned consumers e-bikes cannot exceed 20 to 28 mph in California, depending on type. Some that do are considered motorcycles or mopeds, requiring a DMV license and a minimum age of 16 to operate, though they are being marketed and sold by some retailers as e-bikes.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe are seeing a surge of safety incidents on our sidewalks, parks, and streets,\u201d Bonta said.\n <\/p>\n \n There\u2019s an important distinction between electric bicycles and electric motorcycles, said Matt Moore, general counsel for PeopleforBikes<\/a>, a national cycling coalition.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cElectric bicycles have been heavily regulated for over 20 years. They are consumer products. They are subject to (Consumer Product Safety Commission) safety regulations, recalls and they\u2019re defined in federal and state laws everywhere,\u201d Moore said.\n <\/p>\n \n Motorized bicycles that exceed certain speeds and mopeds are placed into a different classification by most states, with age and licensing requirements. But those distinctions haven\u2019t broken through to consumers, many who seek out electric bicycles and going home with electric motorcycles, Moore said.\n <\/p>\n \n The confusion isn\u2019t limited to consumers. \u201cWe have a lot of officers who really can\u2019t tell the difference between an e-bike and an e-motorcycle,\u201d Huntington Beach, California, Police Sgt. Mike Thomas said at a statewide e-bike safety symposium<\/a> this week. \u201cSo, how is a parent going to be able to tell the difference?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cSome of the online sellers are kind of perpetuating the confusion. They don\u2019t tell you what you\u2019re buying, or they claim that it\u2019s a street-legal product,\u201d Moore told CNN. \u201cThey will even claim that it\u2019s a type of electric bicycle if it has a lower speed setting on the controller \u2013 so you can limit this device to 20 miles per hour, but you can also go 65 miles per hour \u2013 and they sell that as street legal.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere are no safety standards for these electric motorcycles that are being sold. They\u2019re not tested. The batteries aren\u2019t tested to these safety standards, and they\u2019re just inherently dangerous,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n \n The unwitting consumers are generally parents, given the price point \u2013 $1,500 to $3,000 \u2013 Moore said.\n <\/p>\n \n Then, there are the illegal modifications people can make at home, which can transform an e-bike into an e-motorcycle while making the difference almost indistinguishable. How-to videos are readily available online.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou can\u2019t give a child a gun, alcohol or anything else like that, but you can give them an illegal motorcycle,\u201d Moore said. \u201cIt just makes no sense.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n When Georgia mom Krysten McCabe went for a walk through her Marietta neighborhood this past Christmas, she noticed a wave of excited children testing out brand-new bikes. At first, they looked like the bicycles she\u2019d grown up riding.\n <\/p>\n \n One was barreling down the sidewalk, heading straight for McCabe \u2013 topped with a wobbly 10-year-old boy who appeared to be making no attempt to slow down. She grabbed her dog\u2019s leash and got herself and her pet off the sidewalk before the boy could hit them.\n <\/p>\n Police in Keller, Texas, issued warnings to e-bike riders who fled from police\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Police in Keller, Texas, issued warnings to e-bike riders who fled from police<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n 1:29 \n She turned to warn the boy about how powerful his bike was, but he was soon on his way.\n <\/p>\n \n Scenes of e-bike \u201ctakeovers\u201d \u2013 city streets suddenly filled with masses of teenagers riding in unison \u2013 have left bystanders rattled, drivers complaining about dangerous interruptions, and concerned parents flocking to community meetings and Facebook groups.\n <\/p>\n \n Some policy makers are catching on.\n <\/p>\n \n In Fishers, Indiana, where Kennedi crashed her bike on Christmas Day, the police department<\/a> warned of an uptick in reckless riding and misuse of e-bikes and e-motorcycles, and a local ordinance was proposed that would require riders to be at least 15 years old with a valid ID to use them on roadways.\n <\/p>\n \n Now, as crashes mount, many question who should be held accountable \u2013 the parents who purchase e-bikes, the sellers who label them, the lawmakers who allow them on the roads?\n <\/p>\n \n PeopleForBikes\u2019 Moore says the conversation is worthwhile. He likened the moment to the emergence several years ago of e-cigarettes and vape products among teenagers<\/a>. Tobacco products were marketed to youth, sold in fruity flavors with colorful packaging.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYouth became addicted, and attorneys general stepped in, they sued the companies that were selling the products and made them change their marketing,\u201d Moore said. \u201cThat is exactly what should happen here. They need to stop selling motorcycles to kids as if they\u2019re safe and appropriate \u2013 or even legal \u2013 to use.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Last week, Spitzer announced the formation<\/a> of a dedicated e-bike and e-motorcycle prosecution unit to review potential criminal charges against juveniles and adults, including parents who knowingly allow their children to ride illegal e-motorcycles.\n <\/p>\n \n In New Jersey, lawmakers in January passed what some have described as the most restrictive e-bike law in the country, narrowing the definition of a low-speed electric bicycle \u2013 one that maxes out at 20 mph \u2013 and treating all other e-bikes as motorized bicycles, with licensing and registration requirements.\n <\/p>\n \n Bike enthusiasts criticized the law as too restrictive and said it overlooks necessary regulations for e-motorcycles. They\u2019ve also raised concerns that local restrictions and age limits on e-bikes around the country cast too wide a net, hurting bike-friendly communities in the attempt to protect children.\n <\/p>\n \n Meanwhile, some schools around the country are moving to ban e-bikes on and around campuses.\n <\/p>\n \n In Bradford, Pennsylvania, Police Chief Michael Ward recently warned against the dangers of high-powered e-bikes that can reach high speeds after a video of an e-bike rider colliding with and flipping over a car went viral<\/a>. Police in Keller, Texas<\/a>, issued a similar warning, along with dashcam video of young riders they said fled officers on streets. Such warnings have been echoed by police departments across the country dealing with chaotic riders and concerned parents.\n <\/p>\n \n Moore says his organization has worked to pass legislation in Minnesota, Utah, Colorado, Connecticut and California to prohibit retailers from advertising high-speed motorized vehicles as e-bikes. He\u2019s hopeful halting some e-motorcycle sales in California \u2013 and similar moves \u2013 will create momentum toward regulation in other states.\n <\/p>\n \n But for now, in many cities, a parent can buy a vehicle capable of 60 mph, hand it to a child, and never be told it isn\u2019t a bicycle.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/screenshot-2026-05-13-at-1-39-29-pm.jpg?c=original&q=w_860,c_fill\")
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