Bicycle advocates have spent decades trying to make the Bay Area more bike-friendly. But one aspect of the two-wheeled revolution has government and health officials increasingly concerned. Electric bicycles, or e-bikes, have changed a lot since the pandemic shutdown and may be posing a serious threat to kids.
Pedal-assisted e-bikes were originally marketed to seniors as a way to get them out and about. But then, a throttle was added, and you didn’t have to pedal at all. Those machines were soon embraced by the younger generation and as they got bigger and faster, emergency trauma surgeon John Maa said he began seeing injuries that were similar to accidents involving motorcycles rather than bicycles.
“What we have is a condition which was largely unheard of prior to the pandemic,” said Dr. Maa. “It’s now the number one leading condition being treated in children’s emergency rooms. Can you imagine that? That a single mechanism of injury just rose all the way to become number one?”…