The laws of physics are immutable and unforgiving, and it’s a wonder I survived childhood. My pals and I rode our bicycles beyond the limits of sanity, doing all manner of hair-raising stunts. We didn’t wear helmets, which weren’t available back in the 1400s. The bikes of the time weren’t capable—mostly—of generating death-dealing speeds, so we suffered road rash, bruises, contusions, cuts, and the occasional broken arm or wrist. We had a dim sense of the possible consequences of ignoring those immutable laws, but we had the invulnerability of youth.
Read more An oddity of timing for an Islamic cultural event
Remember the opening scene of Top Gun: Maverick? Maverick took an unauthorized—of course; he’s Maverick–flight in a hyper-capable experimental plane. He barely made Mach 10, but decided to push it faster, disintegrating the billion-dollar prototype, and survived the ejection, none the worse for wear! At that altitude and those speeds, he would have been torn apart, but that would have been a short movie.
Reality is different. The laws of physics apply, and violating them carries severe penalties.
In August, in Our kids need MAHA, I worried about our children, who are now riding electric scooters and bikes, and aren’t getting the exercise my pals and I got while we thought we were just having fun. But because we’re limited to 800 words, I didn’t expound on the other, more serious issue: the skyrocketing rate of serious injuries and deaths due to the proliferation of e-bikes:
A pediatric operating room surgeon is sounding the alarm of caution to mothers and fathers worldwide, advising the adults against buying e-bikes for their tykes as the outcomes could be fatal.
The whistleblower’s words of wisdom, shared virtually with over 16 million viewers, triggered a chain of testimonials from grieving parents whose kids have either sustained severe injuries or died while riding the motorized two-wheeler — a hot commodity among Gen Zs and younger which has claimed the lives of hundreds in recent years, .
Graphic: CPSC Publication. Public Domain.
“Don’t get an e-bike for your child,” Cynlyn, a physician, urged online audiences. “The consequences of e-bike accidents are life-changing and deadly.”
“Kids should not be riding them,” the expert asserted. “At the very minimum, they should be wearing a helmet.”
As one might imagine, most of those maimed and killed are young males.
Researchers for NYU Langone Health analyzed 900 patients treated for injuries caused by electric bike and scooter use at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital for a May 2026 study, “The Fast and the Fragile: Neurosurgical Trauma in the Age of Micromobility.”
The investigators determined that approximately a third of those patients suffered traumatic brain injuries, and 30% needed intensive care. Unsurprisingly, the majority of riders went without a helmet, according to the findings.
The problem is that many, if not most, e-bikes marketed for kids are capable of speeds of 30 MPH and more. Many dispense with pedals, and kids rarely wear helmets of any kind. Few, if any, kids are prepared, mentally, emotionally, or physically, for those kinds of speeds. They don’t have the experience, and at even 20 MPH, things happen faster than they can anticipate or respond.
Graphic: Lightning Phantom. Author.
This is my usual, non-electric, ride. The other day, I managed 42 MPH on a relatively steep downhill section. Hypocrisy? Not quite.
I have 60+ years of experience and knowledge. I run first-class puncture-resistant tires, know every millimeter of the bike, which I regularly inspect for the slightest fault, wear a top-rated helmet, and reached that speed on a course I regularly ride. I know every bump and fault on that road. If there was a real risk, I wouldn’t have done it. Those kinds of speeds aren’t new to me. I once managed 62 MPH on a lighter, faster recumbent under similar conditions. Once was enough.
Kids don’t have that experience, nor do they maintain their machines to that degree, if at all, nor do they have the mental development to know precisely what their machines can do and what’s a reasonable risk. These consequences are happening far too often:
“My son almost died June 7, 2025. The only thing that saved his life was his helmet,” a mother revealed. “He still sustained a skull fracture, broken nose, broken ribs, broken elbow, had to have his top lip reattached and a severe compound fracture to his left leg. So severe that if it were any worse, it would have been amputated.”
Kids are always going to do stupid things and take stupid risks. We can’t wrap them in bubble wrap, but we can exercise necessary parental discipline, make sure they get substantial exercise, and not give them machines a reasonable parent knows they can’t resist using to ignore the laws of physics.
Become a subscriber and get our weekly Friday newsletter with unique content from our editors. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription.
Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
Read more The inside-out midterms: How affordability scrambled the parties