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.
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- 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.
