{"id":299703,"date":"2026-06-08T09:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/299703\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T09:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:19:10","slug":"aaa-tampa-general-hospital-push-e-bike-safety-for-kids-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/299703\/","title":{"rendered":"AAA, Tampa General Hospital push e-bike safety for kids, teens"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the popularity of electric two-wheelers surges in Tampa Bay, so do risks to riders\u2019 lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

E-bikes and e-scooters are many young Floridians’ favorite way to get around.<\/p>\n

However, medical professionals say that safety concerns often go by the wayside for underage e-riders. Tampa General Hospital<\/a>, the region\u2019s only Level 1 trauma center, recently saw a 500% increase<\/a> in pediatric e-bike injuries.<\/p>\n

With an eye towards bringing these numbers down, AAA \u2014 The Auto Club Group launched its \u201cE-Ride Ready\u201d<\/a> campaign earlier last week.<\/p>\n

Guest speakers at the kickoff press conference included a young e-bike crash survivor and Dr. Jade Kumar, a TGH pediatric surgeon.<\/p>\n

\u201dWhat concerns us most is the severity of these injuries,\u201d Kumar said. \u201cCompared to traditional bicycles, children riding e-bikes experience twice the rate of traumatic brain injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children and teenagers, who often cruise well above safe speeds without helmets, are particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can fix broken bones, but we can\u2019t fix the brain,\u201d Kumar added.<\/p>\n

Kumar\u2019s former trauma care patient, nine-year-old Dylan Shepherd of Pasco County, attended the launch with his parents.<\/p>\n

Dylan was wearing a helmet at the time of his April accident. While he suffered rib fractures, bruised lungs and a torn spleen, his mother said the outcome would have been much worse without protective gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s anything that we can take away from this, it\u2019s to please protect your children,\u201d Kaitlyn Shepherd said. \u201cPlease make sure they\u2019re wearing a helmet and all the protective gear that they need so they can come home.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Florida lawmakers take a spin on e-bike regulations <\/a><\/p>\n

A bill<\/a> that would have required Florida riders under 18 to wear helmets failed in the legislature earlier this year.<\/p>\n

However, in March, lawmakers passed SB382<\/a>, which cracks down on e-bike use on sidewalks and creates a Micromobility Safety Task Force. That bill still awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 signature.<\/p>\n

AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins echoed Kumar and Shepherd\u2019s comments about parental responsibility. The centerpiece of the \u201cE-Ride Ready\u201d campaign is a free safety guide<\/a> for parents, which includes information on helmet brands that match e-bike speeds and other guidance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur advice is to do your homework before you purchase an electric bike or a scooter,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cSome devices come with a smartphone app capability that allows the parent to control the top speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kumar acknowledged e-bikes\u2019 appeal to young people, but said safety should come first.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery child deserves a chance to have fun, but they also deserve a chance to come home safely at the end of the day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Line<\/p>\n

A row of Lime bikes in St. Petersburg wait to be rented. <\/p>\n

Limits of legislation\u00a0<\/p>\n

The micromobility industry, which sells e-bikes and e-scooters, has taken off across Florida.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only young people who prefer e-riding.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Tampa piloted its eBike voucher<\/a> program for low-income riders. Since then, 450 residents have received up to $3,000 off a new bike.<\/p>\n

Hunter Hamrick brought his e-scooter because it\u2019s cheaper \u2014 and more convenient \u2014 to charge the device than it is to fill a gas tank and find downtown parking.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: E-bikes are everywhere, but not everyone is happy about that<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt just makes life in general a lot easier,\u201d Hamrick said. \u201cTampa isn’t the most walkable city right now, and I think e-scooters and e-bikes are a way for folks to get around a lot faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Hamrick acknowledges the pitfalls of letting kids use the devices. You have to be 18 to use Lime, a short-term micromobility rental service, and Hamrick recalled a middle schooler who asked him to scan his face and bypass the app\u2019s age detector.<\/p>\n

Hamrick questioned the enforceability of the new sidewalk law and predicted police may unfairly target Black teenagers.<\/p>\n

And, as the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports<\/a> collisions with vehicles are the leading cause of e-bike rider deaths, Hamrick said better bike lanes are a more permanent solution.<\/p>\n

“The infrastructure should be the priority,\u201d he said. \u201cI often try not to ride on the sidewalk, but I don\u2019t want to get hit with a car. Those are hospital bills; those are potential permanent injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d still be here today\u201d<\/p>\n

Up until mid-May, Nicole Guthrie\u2019s 11-year-old son owned a dirt bike that he wasn\u2019t allowed to ride above 25 mph. He was driving in their Dunedin neighborhood with a helmet on when his mom said a Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s deputy pulled him over and threatened him with jail time.<\/p>\n

Guthrie said adults in her community, from police to neighbors who post underage kids\u2019 faces on Facebook, unfairly target young riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially with summertime, we\u2019re trying to encourage our kids to not be inside in front of screens,\u201d Guthrie said. \u201cAre they all being perfect? No, but we could count how many imperfect adults are not following the speed limit, are not using their blinker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guthrie also pointed to videos where cars purposefully try to push kids off the road because they don\u2019t want to share a lane.<\/p>\n

Between 2017 and 2024, annual e-rider deaths increased 2000 percent nationwide, a trend mirrored in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. Public data is lacking, but the Tampa Bay Times reports<\/a> there have been almost 30 e-bike deaths over the last five years locally.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: E-bike popularity is soaring. People want more restrictions, but not too many<\/a><\/p>\n

Connor Lynch, a University of South Florida sophomore, died when a car struck him while he rode his scooter down Fletcher Ave. in Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n

His mother, Michelle Lynch, founded the Connor Lynch Legacy Fund<\/a> in the wake of her son\u2019s death. The nonprofit focuses on micromobility safety and clearer regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive seconds is all the difference that was needed between that car turning in front of him,\u201d Lynch said<\/a> at a Sept. 2025 press conference with AAA. \u201cHe\u2019d still be here today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the popularity of electric two-wheelers surges in Tampa Bay, so do risks to riders\u2019 lives. E-bikes and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-299703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}