E-bikes are booming — and so are the risks for younger riders

When Montvale, New Jersey, Mayor Mike Ghassali saw surveillance video of a 15-year-old on an e-bike slamming into a car at high speed, he was alarmed — but not surprised.

“We get calls almost every day where these kids are on their bikes doing stunts, and that’s how they get in trouble,” Ghassali said of his community. “This is the first year now that we see an issue with e-bikes. All of a sudden, the parents are buying these really high-speed bikes.”

E-bikes, now a nearly $2 billion market, are exploding in popularity, but increased sales come with increased risks — for pedestrians and increasingly, for younger riders.

Since 2019, e-bike ER visits among children ages 10 to 17 have more than tripled, the CBS News data team found.

“The parents think they’re doing a favor. They’re making their kid happy. It’s a death trap at that speed with no training, no license, no insurance,” Ghassali said.

Craig Cornell, owner of Diamond Cycle in Montclair, New Jersey, says e-bikes now make up nearly 40% of his sales. Although some e-bikes can go 50 mph or more, he won’t sell any that go faster than 20 mph.

“They’re really not e-bikes. They’re really e-motorcycles. We are a bicycle shop here, so we sell bicycles,” Cornell said.

Nationwide, a patchwork of regulations governs e-bike safety, but New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer believes they’re not enough.

“I’m very worried about kids being safe,” Gottheimer said.

He introduced legislation that addresses “helmet use” for e-bike riders under 18 and offers grant money to police departments that crack down on “unsafe, underage riding.”

Gottheimer says his own son has an e-bike, although he was opposed at first.

“A lot of his friends are riding them. And my process was, ‘OK, let’s figure out a way, if you’re going to get an e-bike, let’s talk about what rules you have to follow,'” Gottheimer said.