Kids and MEVs: Think Thrice

 

By Alexander "Sandie" Pendleton (President, Greater Shorewood Bikers)

As the school year begins, Shorewood parents may be considering buying an e-bike or e-scooter (a “micro e-vehicle,” or “MEV”) for their child. As a father who’s gone through the experience of having a daughter in a coma due to a bike-accident brain injury, I encourage all parents to think very carefully before allowing their child to own or use a MEV.

I will concede that for adults, MEVs have their place in our overall transportation mix. Some e-bikes offer the user some exercise, and MEVs can be a practical and environmentally friendly way to get to work or class (especially compared to using a car). I’ve enjoyed renting e-bikes, and I expect I’ll buy one someday. But here are a dozen or so reasons why MEVs are not the best choice for kids.

• Speed: Despite their appearance, MEVs are powerful vehicles that can quickly and effortlessly reach speeds that can result in serious injuries. E-scooters and e-bikes can accelerate rapidly and reach speeds of 15 to 30 mph.
• Injury: From personal experience with my daughter, I know that a skull that hits pavement or a curb at a relatively low speed (~10 mph) incurs a very high risk of severe brain trauma. Even if the rider is wearing a helmet (as my daughter was), this speed (and the sudden stop) generates immense kinetic energy within the skull case that soft brain tissue is not designed to absorb. A human brain has the texture and firmness of Jell-O; so make a box of Jell-O in a sturdy ceramic bowl, let that set, then drop that bowl onto pavement to see what happens. A skull’s impacting pavement at just 10 mph can easily cause a skull fracture, severe concussion, brain bleeding/swelling, coma, and/or fatal injury.
• What Milwaukee Doctors Say: In our area, doctors at Children’s Hospital are reporting seeing more youngriders hurt due to the use of MEVs than ever before.
• What the AAP Advises: TheAmerican Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children under 16 shouldnot operate or ride electric scooters, and it advises the same thing aboute-bikes.
• Lack of Helmets: When I see kids riding e-scooters in Shorewood, I often see them not wearing helmets.  Sure, you can tell your son he has to wear his helmet, but you don’t know whether he will (especially if he sees others who aren’t wearing helmets, which he will see). Better to keep e-scooters out of your son’s hands in the first place, then try to monitor whether he’s wearing a helmet all the time.    
• Judgment: Kids lack good judgment. Brain systems that support judgment and risk assessment continue maturing into the mid-20s, and young riders (especially young male riders) often underestimate hazards, risks, and consequences. Kids and teens are still learning to control their bodies, and to judge speed and driver behaviors.

• Traffic and Road Exposure: In Shorewood, MEVs must be operated in the street (not on sidewalks), and kids often don’t know how other vehicles behave or have limited experience predicting driver behavior. And our streets have lots of cracks and potholes, that e-scooters in particular do not negotiate well. Hitting a pothole or crack can send the faces, heads and wrists of young e-scooter users hurtling toward a curb or other hard surface. And remember (despite the best efforts of GSB over the last decade) we don’t have a single protected bike lane (“PBL”) on any Shorewood street yet. (In contrast, MKE has completed PBLs on North Avenue and Lake Drive, and is on track to have constructed 50 miles of PBLs by the end of 2026.)   
• Control: The sub-16-year-olds I see operating e-scooters in Shorewood don’t appear to be operating those scooters smoothly and with control. MEVs are not like regular bikes or scooters. With just a slight twist of the wrist, an MEV can accelerate rapidly, and their braking characteristics may be unfamiliar, especially in an emergency situation. Do you want your child “getting the hang of” operating a motorized vehicle, with no seatbelt or airbag around, and lots of concrete and steel around instead? Better to let kids learn how to drive first, in a more forgiving environment, and then later (maybe) start using an MEV.   
• Decreased Physical Activity: MEVs tend to decrease the amount of “routine, everyday” exercise kids would otherwise get. Those minutes of movement add up and matter for kids’ physical and mental health. And kids and teens using nonmotorized means of transportation now, can help to foster a lifetime preference for green, active transportation methods. Don’t promote inactive, sedentary lifestyles.
• Liability/Insurance: If your child injures someone while operating an MEV, do you have insurance coverage for that claim? And if you do, do you have enough coverage? Most standard insurance policies (for autos, homeowners and renters) do not cover claims brought against the insured due to the insured’s operation of an e-bike or e-scooter. Sure, some folks purchase dedicated MEV coverage, but do you want to incur that expense (which can be hundreds of dollars a year)? Or run the risk that your child will hit a pedestrian, or classmate?
• The Risk of Injuring Others: E-bikes and e-scooters weigh a lot more than their nonmotorized cousins. And it’s that weight (combined with an MEV’s tendency to be operated at faster speeds) that increases the risk that if a MEV operator hits a pedestrian, that pedestrian is going to be seriously injured.   
• “But We Already Bought a MEV”: It’s not too late. You can change your mind and tell your child you’ve decided you don’t want him or her riding an MEV (or tell them you’ll let them you’ll let them ride an MEV as soon as Shorewood redesigns its streets so they provide safe spaces for bike and scooter riders). Or at least be vigilant and firm, and let your child know the very first time you see the child riding without a helmet, on a sidewalk, or in an unsafe manner, you are getting rid of the MEV.    

Thankfully, when my oldest daughter had a low-speed bike accident ten years ago she was wearing a helmet. I’m told that choice saved her life and brain. After a skull fracture, coma and a multiple-day hospital stay, she had a complete, 100% recovery. Now, rather than being the patient getting emergency surgery after a bike accident, she’s the surgeon in New York helping others who’ve been in accidents. My family was very lucky, and I write this article because I wouldn’t wish the experience we had on any other child or parent.

The author can be reached at sandiependleton@gmail.com.

  

This Year, Bike to Oakland Avenue to Do Your Shopping & Socializing

 By Alexander "Sandie" Pendleton, President, Greater Shorewood Bikers

Above: A bike trailer and one pannier at Metro Market loaded with more than 8 standard bags of groceries, a gallon of milk and two loaves of fresh bread (plus a bottle of wine and a bunch of flowers -- because it’s spring and “man does not live by bread alone”).

Oakland Avenue construction will be underway from now to December. Fortunately, most of us can skip driving, and instead get to Metro Market (and other Oakland Avenue shops, bars and restaurants) via a trusty, economical, and non-polluting bike. Doing such has many advantages. Here are a few:

·     Easy, Hassel-Free Parking: With a bike, you never have to search for a parking spot, and you always park right by the entrance. You get right to where you want to be, and you get to skip the delays associated with getting into or out of a parking ramp, or having to park a block or so from your destination.

·    Save Money: The bad news is that gas is going to cost you more this year; the great news is you chose to live in a highly walkable and bikeable community, where you don’t have to (if you don’t want to) drive every time you want to get some groceries or go out. If you don’t have such already, maybe this is the year you want to invest in a set of bike panniers, or a bike trailer. Panniers and bike trailers practically never wear out, and are highly affordable (basic ones are available new for under $100 at local bike shops like Wheel & Sprocket, websites like Amazon or Walmart, or used on websites like ebay for even less). A bike trailer can carry just as many bags of groceries as the trunk of a small car can. Or (if you are willing to go beyond the cost of panniers and/or a trailer), new regular cargo bikes and electric cargo bikes are amazing. Some Shorewood families are buying such, and becoming "one car" families, because a good cargo bike is a heck of a lot cheaper to buy and maintain than a car. (See are prior blog article Your Next Minivan -- a Cargo Bike?) The folks at Wheel & Sprocket, or Shorewood Bikes can help you pick and/or order just the right e-bike or cargo bike for you. 

·     Bikes Haul Groceries Easily: The bicycle is often described as the most efficient machine humans have ever invented, and biking with groceries is amazingly easy, especially if you are biking on a flat surface or downhill. Metro Market is centrally located (none of us who live here have a long ride to or from there, usually less than a half mile). And it's at an elevation slightly higher than most of the rest of Shorewood, so almost all of us when we are headed home from the store with our purchases are on a flat or downhill route. 

·       Healthier You, Healthier Planet. Getting a bit of exercise as you go about your routine activities is a great way to benefit your health, and the health of the planet. And if you have kids, modeling an active/greener lifestyle for them is also a good thing. Lots of studies indicate that making choices that incorporate a bit of exercise into everyday activities, is the best way to lead a more active lifestyle (it's easy; take the stairs, walk the dog, walk or bike to school or work, and bike to the grocery store).

·      A Well Maintained Bike, Is a Happy Bike. Compared to car maintenance costs, maintaining a bike is so, so much cheaper. And in Shorewood, you can keep things really easy, by calling Tim or Colleen at Shorewood Bikes (they offer a service whereby you call, they pick up your bike, tune it up, and then deliver it back to you). Easy peasy.     

Above, a Shorewood cargo bike filled with “the essentials” from Metro Market, 

And obviously, if you’re headed to Oakland Avenue and you plan to have a few drinks, a bike is a far, far better choice than a car.  First, if you’re tipsy, behind the wheel of a car you pose a risk to yourself, your passengers, and those on our streets and sidewalks. Second, if you’re over the limit, there is no way you should be driving a car. We’re in no way recommending “Bike Riding While Schnockered,” but one of advantages of choosing to use your bike to get to and from the bar is that Wisconsin’s OWI laws do not apply to bike riders (for details, see "RWS" (Riding While Schnockered) -- Is That Against the Law?). 

In conclusion, don’t avoid shopping (or socializing) on Oakland Avenue this year due to construction; instead, use the construction as an opportunity to do your shopping (and socializing) in a new, better, and healthier way.

The author can be reached at sandiependleton@gmail.com, or at 414.418.4469.