Researchers at the University of California San Diego have found that injuries involving electric bicycles, or e-bikes, have increased dramatically across California, rising from just two reported collisions in 2018 to 1,506 in 2024. The study, "An Exponential Increase in e-bike Injuries in California," published in Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open, also found that e-bike riders were more likely to experience moderate-to-severe injuries than riders of traditional bicycles, highlighting growing public health and safety concerns as e-bike use continues to expand statewide.
"One of our most concerning findings was the disproportionately high number of injured children involved in e-bike crashes," said John Austin, MD, a general surgery resident and research fellow at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the study's first author.
"E-bikes provide valuable transportation and recreational benefits, but their higher speeds can generate crash forces more comparable to motorcycles than traditional bicycles, leading to potentially severe injuries.
"Families should understand these risks, ensure riders wear properly fitted helmets and provide appropriate supervision and training. Safety education needs to grow as quickly as e-bike adoption, and safety must be our target for trauma injury prevention and advocacy."
