November 26, 2025 • 20 mins
Kids are begging for e-scooters and e-bikes this Christmas—but the rise in catastrophic injuries tells a very different story. In this episode, Dr Justin Coulson breaks down the shocking stats, the hidden dangers, and the conversations every parent must have before saying yes. This is the episode every parent needs to hear before heading to the checkout.
KEY POINTS
- Emergency departments are seeing a surge in serious e-scooter injuries—many life-threatening.
- Speed, illegal modifications, and lack of helmets are driving the spike.
- Developmentally, most kids and young teens are not ready for the risks.
- Laws vary widely across Australia and haven’t caught up to the tech.
- Pros vs cons: independence vs genuinely dangerous speeds and environments.
- What parents can do: age limits, non-negotiable rules, and real-world consequences.
QUOTE OF THE EPISODE
“Right now we’re running a massive, uncontrolled experiment on our kids’ safety.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
- Local state road rules for e-bikes and e-scooters
- Happy Families resources at happyfamilies.com.au
ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS
- Delay the purchase—ideally until at least age 16.
- Start small: ensure your child can safely handle a standard bike/scooter first.
- Set iron-clad rules: helmets, no doubling, no night riding, no road riding, no phone use.
- Inspect regularly for illegal modifications or unsafe setups.
- Have the big conversation: talk openly about risks, responsibility, and real-world consequences.
Use meaningful, consistent consequences when rules are broken.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good Day.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
This is the Happy Family's podcast. News bulletins have been
covering the issue of e bikes and scooters and kids
riding around without helmets and getting up to mischief on
these e bikes and scooters non stop.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Lately, Kai Host was riding an e bike with another
relative when he crashed into a ballard. It had been
modified to remove the speed limit without his mum's consent.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I felt like my lay was disconnected.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Eight year old Zecondo died when his e bike collided
with another along this footpath on the Sunshine Coast. A
little over two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The sixty five year old man who was hit by
an e bike on a western Sydney footpath has died
in hospital. With Christmas just around the corner, more and
more parents are considering buying their children e scooters or
e bikes. Is it a good idea? Is it a
bad idea? That's our discussion today on The Happy Families podcast. Tragically,
so far this year, thirteen lives have been lost just
(00:59):
on queen Land roads while riding e mobility devices, and
police are reinforcing that safe use is not really up
to them. It begins at home, parents, carers, making informed choices,
understanding the rules of the legislation, actively supervising young riders
and not saying well, because everybody else has got a
(01:20):
bicycle that can go eighty kilometers an hour, let me
get you one as well. E scooters and e bikes
might look like the perfect Christmas surprise, but they come
with responsibilities, according to Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler, who looks
after road policing in Queensland. And so today we're going
to have a look at what we need to do
to get this right. Because if you are coordinating with
(01:42):
the North Pole right now about getting some e mobility
devices for your children, you want to make sure those
elves have made the right decisions, have made sure that
everything is compliant, and have checked those devices twice to
keep kids safe and to make sure that nobody gets
hurt over the summer riding these e bikes. Okay, that's
(02:05):
the intro. After the break we talk about what you
need to know when it comes to kids e bikes
and scooters for Christmas. Stay with us. Hello and welcome
to the Happy Families podcast, Real parenting solutions every single day.
This is Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast. My name is
(02:25):
doctor Justin Coulson with my wife and under our six kids.
Missus Happy Families, Kyle. I've been doing a lot of
media interviews lately about e bikes and escooters. Seems like
every week there's another story, there's another child in the hospital,
another near miss. Just recently there have been some devastating
news stories where young people have been killed writing them
(02:46):
or crashing into somebody or been crashed into and parents
are asking of these things safe. So today we're talking
about what parents actually need to know about e bikes
and e scooters.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So we've actually had a scooters for I don't know,
five or six years now.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, we bought them when they first came out, and
we got the Segway scooters because we thought, oh, we
know that brand, and we were kind of disappointed.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And they really were a bit of a novelty back then,
like not very many people had them. And nowadays I
go down to our local shopping center and I'm actually inundated.
I'm actually quite nervous going through the car park because
there are that many e bikes and scooters with bunches
(03:27):
of kids coming together.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, I'm going to sound like a boomer, right now,
But I was riding my bike the other day during
the school's busy time, as I was coming back via
a bike path, and I nearly got knocked off my bike,
my pedal powered bike, my proper road bike. I was
wearing my likra and my helmet by a kid who
was just flying on the wrong side of the bike
path on his high powered e bike. I mean, these
(03:52):
things are motorbikes, not e bikes. Let's be honest, And
I mean I don't use course language, but I let
him know that I was pretty upset with him, and
he just kept on writing motoring along. He didn't care.
So today the conversation about it, at the risk of
sounding like we belong on one of those news talk
radio stations, we need to have a chat about them.
I might also add that our scooters that we had
(04:14):
were limited to twenty four kilometers an hour, and we
always thought the kids were helmets and they came off
a couple of times and really hurt themselves, Like you
can hurt yourself really, really badly when you come off
one of these things. Anyway, let me give you the
headline numbers, the stats, the big picture stats that are
concerning I did some research between January twenty twenty one
(04:34):
and December twenty twenty four, so we don't have any
of this year's data in the stats that I'm sharing,
and it's only got worse. But there were nearly five
thousand people who showed up in emergency departments with east
scooter injuries during that same period. Eight people died from
eastcooter incidents. That was twenty sorry, that was twenty twenty
four alone. And just in the past few weeks, like
I said, in Queensland has been at least two deaths,
(04:55):
one a teenager on the Gold Coast, another an eight
year old boy on the Sunshine Coast who is hit
by a teenager who is riding one of these e bikes.
Just devastating for kids specifically. One regional Queensland hospital was
actually the Sunshine Coast Hospital, saw one hundred and seventy
six kids aged five to five point fifteen with eastcooter
injuries in just two years. It turns out it's about
(05:15):
one percent of all their pediatric emergency visits.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I actually wasn't aware at just how many kids are
being heard. Those are some really big numbers. What is
actually the cause of the majority of injuries.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, so probably not surprising. The data shows that fractures
the big one. Thirty seven percent of cases head injuries,
even with kids wearing helmets, upper limb injuries. But what
really gets me is this, eleven percent of the pediatric
cases were classified as life threatening or potentially life threatening,
so one in just over one in ten life threatening
or potentially life threatening kids are getting hurt really seriously.
(05:54):
In the Queensland study, forty two percent weren't wearing helmets,
thirty six percent was speeding, twelve percent had two kids
on one scoot, doubling median age. Of these accidents, fourteen
boys make up seventy one percent of the cases, no surprises.
They're injury spiked really dramatically around about the ages of
fourteen to fifteen.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So these stats, we're not talking about eight year olds
falling off a scooter here, these older children who are
being reckless.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah well well yeah, I mean it's teenagers and they're
treating these things like toys, but they're capable of real
speed and real damage. There are people around our Sunshine
Coast suburb and we see it all the time. They're
wearing their full face helmets and they're on these scooters
and I kid, you know not they're going fast than
(06:42):
the car. So it's a fifty or a sixty zone
and they're going they're overtaking cars.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
There's a couple of kids and it's the same kids
every time. Down one of our major intersections. There are
three lanes on either side, and they're up on one
wheel and just doing crazy stuff in the middle of
peak our traffic. Yeah, it's infuriating as a parent watching
other kids taking risks like this, but it's also really scary.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
You get really upset about it when we're together. You
pointed out all the time, and I'm kind of conflicted.
They're obviously doing potentially risky. It's not potentially risky.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
It is risky, but it's not only risky to themselves.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
They could hurt somebody.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
There's so many moving parts around them. Any number of
outcomes can can happen at this. So the question everybody
I'm assuming is asking, is should I be buying one
for my kid?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I know I've had a number of parents say what
do you reckon? Yes or no? Is it a good
idea or not?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Look, I know when we first got ours, like we
were really like very very cautious. We talk to the kids,
this isn't a toy, this is actually a machine.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Well, I mean it is a toy, but it's a
toy that you've got to respect and be careful around,
and just things like they'd be on the footpath and
then they go onto the grass and they learned really
quickly that those little wheels don't bounce, like if there's
a verge between the grass and the footpath, the wheel
you can sort of slide along it and come off.
And we had a couple of a couple of kids
really hurt themselves doing that. My short answer is, I
(08:10):
don't think that we should be buying them for our kids,
and if we are, we shouldn't. We really need to
be having big conversations, serious conversations, big caveats around this.
And that's because these are not like the scooters that
we grew up with. They are legally scooters. Like I said,
they can go twenty five k's an hour. A lot
of e bikes and scooters are being illegally modified so
they're going sixty k's. I have heard of somebody I
(08:34):
actually know them. They have an e bike that can
go up to ninety kilometers an hour. This is no
longer an e bike. This is not a pedal assist bike.
This is a motorbike. I don't care what you call it.
And kids, especially kids in their early adolescent years, they
don't have the impulse control, they don't have the risk
assessment developmentally, they're just not ready to handle that kind
of responsibility as a general rule, because they're not growing
(08:56):
up with these machines on farms and being taught from
an early age how to respect the responsibility that goes
along with it.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
But I know my kid, right, I know they're responsible.
They wear their helmet, they do the right thing. So
how does that play out?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, and helmet's help. Kids without helmets are seventy eight
percent more likely to suffer head injuries than kids with helmets.
But kids are riding them at night, they're, like you said,
writing them in peak hour traffic. They're on the road.
The question isn't just have I got a responsible child?
It is every other child around them responsible. Because thirteen
(09:31):
percent of injuries involve motor vehicles. Five kids in New
South Wales were hit as pedestrians by someone else's scooter.
If you're considering it, then I reckon they need to
be older, they need to be at least sixteen, they
need to be mature, and you need to have iron
clad rules. So after the break, let's talk about what
the laws are in Australia. We'll also talk about the
pros and cons of going ahead with something like this
(09:52):
for Christmas. And lastly, I want to talk about the
best way to have the conversations. If you do have one,
or if you are going to get one for your kids,
stay with us. You're back. This is the Happy Family's podcast.
If you like the pod and you're enjoying making your
(10:13):
family happy because of the stuff you're hearing, we'd love
for you to like and share and leave a rating
and review. It helps make the podcast more visible, So
please jump into the app. It takes you like thirty
seconds and it makes a big impact for us. Okay, Kylie,
where to from here? What have we got to answer?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
What are the laws around e bikes and east cooters?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So they vary by state. I would say that they're
quite messy and pretty much every jurisdiction right now is
having a big debate about how they're going to run
inquiries and they're doing reviews into the laws. This is
a really hot topic politically right now. The general consensus
and check your local state legislature and website for more information,
(10:51):
but the general position is you're allowed to have ees
scooters that can go up to twenty five k's and
our kids under twelve are not supposed to be writing
them at all, or at least in Queensland, kids between
twelve and fifteen should be supervised by an adult. You've
got to be wearing a helmet. E bikes are supposed
to be limited to two one hundred and fifty. Watt's
big problem is that you can get modified e bikes
like I said, and go ninetyks an hour six thousand
(11:11):
what motors. You can import them legally because they're not
classified as road vehicles, so you're buying a motorbike, but
there's no regio, there's no insurance, there's no checks or
anything like that. It's pretty intense.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So it sounds like the law hasn't actually caught up
with the technology that's available, and.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Not with the way that people are using it either. Yeah,
and we actually we saw the police getting stuck into
people who are doing this recently. But police are issuing
heaves of infringements I came across one stat that said
that in Wa alone, eighty five percent were for not
wearing helmets. But the police literally cannot be everywhere, and
what are they going to do when they see thirty
(11:50):
kids riding down the street. You can't pull thirty kids over.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
We actually saw this when we were on holidays recently
down on the Gold Coast. Police were on at the
footpath and were stopping e bikes as they were coming through.
The curious thing to me watching it as a bystander
was that these were kind of adults and they were
taking precautions, they were doing the right thing, but they
(12:14):
were being discriminated against. Yet there were kids on the
road who were going, you know, twice as fast, weren't
wearing helmets, and they were completely missed because because the
path pilice from the foot path. It just doesn't make
sense to me.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And the people who are being fined were clearly not
happy and were trying to argue their point. I mean,
the reality is some of them were going too fast,
they certainly weren't wearing helmets, they were writing in places
they weren't supposed to be writing, like they were still
doing the wrong thing. But it's really hard to stomach
it when ten meters away over on the road you're
watching kids and adults literally fly by doing exactly the
(12:50):
same thing and not being touched. Although that's that's the
nature of everything on the road, Like if you're speeding
and everyone else is speeding, and then sometimes you're just
the one that gets pulled over by the high patrol.
That it's just the way it goes. Not that it's
happened to me for about forty years, but or thirty
how old am I? I've just aged myself. So let's
talk about the pros and cons. There's a whole lot
(13:11):
of pros. There's a whole lot of cons. What should
we start with? What do you think is going to
be more fun?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Oh? Come on, we've been a bit of a Debbie
downer to start with, So let's let's pick up the
pace a bit. What are the pros all right?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
For me? Independence, especially for older teens who are in
suburban areas where there's poor public transport, they can provide
genuine independence. My favorite two words go outside and this
gets the kids off screens and it gets them outside.
So I'm really big on the independence as a as
a positive here if they've got a proper e bike,
(13:44):
not one of those motorbikes. E bikes still require pedaling,
so there's some exercise.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yes, So I don't see any kids on a traditional
e bike. They're all on these. Yeah, Literally push a
button and your ped like you don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
You've got to do ten pedals and it's up to
speed and then it does the rest. So it's a
pretty weak probe, but I'm asking it's weak, I'm putting
it in the list anyway, sue me. The third one,
I think that in a very serious way, there are
a lot of people who have accessibility issues, and so
if you've got a child with physical limitations or some
kind of disability, eat bikes may in some cases be
(14:19):
genuinely liberating because they can now keep up with their peers.
And the other advantage is if you've got kids who
need to get to work or they don't have a
driver's license so they can't afford a car cost and
transport minimal maintenance. I just think that there are some
really good advantages there replace those short car trips. They
require us to drive them to work or to school
(14:39):
less less well, I was going to say less congestion
on the road. But it depends on what they're doing
and how they're doing it. I think if we're serious
about sustainable transport, immobility definitely has a role. I just
don't like the role.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
But it's currently playing well the wrong people are using them.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Or they're using them the wrong ways. Yeah, so let's
do the cons It's a long list. Number one injury rates,
climbing fast. We cover the stats. It's a genuine public
health issue. Speed mismatch.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
So you get so you've you've acknowledged this, you're on
a pedal bike, you're on a bike path, and then
you've got a kid coming past you at motorbike speed.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
On the wrong side of the path. So dangerous sharing
this phone, yeah, yeah, fully. And it's not just that
like you see them you mentioned in the shopping center
car park. So you've got kids on shared paths with
pedestrians or going through a shopping center location or a
congested area, and you've got elderly people and you've got
toddlers and prams and shopping carts, and you've got a
fourteen year old going thirty ks an hour on some
(15:40):
of those footpaths. It's a collusion waiting to happen, and
there are too many tragic tales already, including funerals other disadvantage.
Kids just aren't complying when it comes to helmets.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
But they never have been. Yeah, like skateboarding, like just.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
But this is prolifect like these, these these are everywheys.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Have always been an issue. They're not called.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I remember said if you don't need a head, you
don't need a helmet. That was the TV ad when
I was a kid growing up. Some studies indicate about
thirty three percent of kids are wearing helmets. Depends on
the study, I'd say in real life it's probably lower
brain development. Kids' brains are still risk assessment. It's just
an issue peer pressure. The kids are doing doubles and triples,
(16:27):
they're racing, they're doing tricks post and boast on social
media enforcement. We've talked about it's impossible and parents don't
know what the kids are doing. A couple of others
cost of modifications. When I was researching for this podcast,
I haven't told you this. Kids are buying modifiers online
so they can get rid of the speed limitterters. You
can have a legal twenty five kilometer e bike. Spend
(16:48):
fifty bucks and get it to go sixty k's an hour. Wow,
Like this is within the reach of most kids and
pedestrian injuries. We're just seeing so many people being hit
by e bikes scooters and everyone who goes to the
hospital that was hit by somebody doing the wrong thing here,
they did not choose to be part of that equation.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
You've been waffling for a long time.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Now, Oh hush, course, so riveting. This is good quality content.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
We're at like seventeen minutes. You promise, nice, short, easy
to listen to.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Okay, all right, let's move on.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So give us some practical advice. Where do we go
from here? As a parent, I've got a child and
the top item on their wish list for Christmas as
an e bike. They're fourteen, and what am I going
to do?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So, I mean, my short answer is, I don't think
you should get them that. I really don't get them
a normal bike that sucks. I don't care. I want
one with the motor tough luck, that's just not going
to happen. I think you want kids to be at
least sixteen, preferably a little bit older. I just don't
think that they need them the data and the developmental science.
In my viewpoint that way. Start small. You want to
(17:57):
make sure that they're confident on a bike or a
scooter first, one of them outside, right, I mean, then
non negotiable rules. They've got to wear a helmet. They're
not allowed to double they're not allowed to write at night,
they're not allowed to ride in traffic, speed limits matter.
I'm not allowed to look at their phone while they're
on the thing. Like, these are common sense things, and
I don't think that parents are having these conversations with
their kids. They're saying, here's the bike, go for your life,
(18:18):
fill your boots. I think you've got to check it regularly,
make sure they haven't modified it, and if they do.
If they do, then they don't write it. They lose
the privilege for a week or a month or whatever.
I'm not big on punitive responses, but they've got to
play by the rules. And if they already have one, well,
(18:38):
whether they do or not. Three is conversations, frank conversations.
Talk about what you're worried about, Explore what's going on
for them, come up with solutions together where they can
use it and be safe again. I'm not beyond consequences,
but they matter. First offense, without a helmet, it gets
locked up for a week. Second offense, you lose it.
If you want one, you can pay for it yourself,
and you'll pay for the fine and you'll do everything
(19:00):
else as well. I just the costs are high, the
cost of high. And if you're saying no, don't feel guilty.
The data supports you. Like a parent's job is to
keep the kids safe, and sometimes we.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Just you don't give your kids keys to a car
before they've learned to drive.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
And they've got a learner's permit, that's right, and.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
This is a genuine risk to their safety and those
around them.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, they don't know the road rules, but they're on
the roads. I mean, in so many ways, this is
like having a driver's license, but oh sorry, driving on
the road. But you're just not in a car, you're
on a bike. It's look, I'm not anti technology, and
we do need to wrap this up. I think that
emobility has a place, and I think that there's some
real benefits and bonuses for our kids and for our
(19:43):
families and for us. It's quite convenient, but right now
we're running this massive uncontrolled experiment on our kid's safety.
The laws are inconsistent, enforcement is patchy at best, and
the injury numbers are frankly terrifying. So our jobs to
look at the DAR, understand the developmental realities and make
decisions that are going to prioritize our kids safety over
(20:04):
convenience or pit pressure. And sometimes that means saying no.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Even when it's not the popular answer.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Especially especially then. Anyway, let's wrap it up. There, enough questions,
enough time, Good luck for Christmas. If this is on
your kid's Christmas wish list. The Happy Families podcast is
produced by Justin Rulan from Bridge Media, Mim Hammond's provised research,
admin and other support. If you'd like boring fo to
make your family happier, visit us at happy families dot
com DoD a
Good Day.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
This is the Happy Family's podcast. News bulletins have been
covering the issue of e bikes and scooters and kids
riding around without helmets and getting up to mischief on
these e bikes and scooters non stop.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Lately, Kai Host was riding an e bike with another
relative when he crashed into a ballard. It had been
modified to remove the speed limit without his mum's consent.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I felt like my lay was disconnected.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Eight year old Zecondo died when his e bike collided
with another along this footpath on the Sunshine Coast. A
little over two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The sixty five year old man who was hit by
an e bike on a western Sydney footpath has died
in hospital. With Christmas just around the corner, more and
more parents are considering buying their children e scooters or
e bikes. Is it a good idea? Is it a
bad idea? That's our discussion today on The Happy Families podcast. Tragically,
so far this year, thirteen lives have been lost just
(00:59):
on queen Land roads while riding e mobility devices, and
police are reinforcing that safe use is not really up
to them. It begins at home, parents, carers, making informed choices,
understanding the rules of the legislation, actively supervising young riders
and not saying well, because everybody else has got a
(01:20):
bicycle that can go eighty kilometers an hour, let me
get you one as well. E scooters and e bikes
might look like the perfect Christmas surprise, but they come
with responsibilities, according to Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler, who looks
after road policing in Queensland. And so today we're going
to have a look at what we need to do
to get this right. Because if you are coordinating with
(01:42):
the North Pole right now about getting some e mobility
devices for your children, you want to make sure those
elves have made the right decisions, have made sure that
everything is compliant, and have checked those devices twice to
keep kids safe and to make sure that nobody gets
hurt over the summer riding these e bikes. Okay, that's
(02:05):
the intro. After the break we talk about what you
need to know when it comes to kids e bikes
and scooters for Christmas. Stay with us. Hello and welcome
to the Happy Families podcast, Real parenting solutions every single day.
This is Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast. My name is
(02:25):
doctor Justin Coulson with my wife and under our six kids.
Missus Happy Families, Kyle. I've been doing a lot of
media interviews lately about e bikes and escooters. Seems like
every week there's another story, there's another child in the hospital,
another near miss. Just recently there have been some devastating
news stories where young people have been killed writing them
(02:46):
or crashing into somebody or been crashed into and parents
are asking of these things safe. So today we're talking
about what parents actually need to know about e bikes
and e scooters.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So we've actually had a scooters for I don't know,
five or six years now.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, we bought them when they first came out, and
we got the Segway scooters because we thought, oh, we
know that brand, and we were kind of disappointed.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And they really were a bit of a novelty back then,
like not very many people had them. And nowadays I
go down to our local shopping center and I'm actually inundated.
I'm actually quite nervous going through the car park because
there are that many e bikes and scooters with bunches
(03:27):
of kids coming together.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, I'm going to sound like a boomer, right now,
But I was riding my bike the other day during
the school's busy time, as I was coming back via
a bike path, and I nearly got knocked off my bike,
my pedal powered bike, my proper road bike. I was
wearing my likra and my helmet by a kid who
was just flying on the wrong side of the bike
path on his high powered e bike. I mean, these
(03:52):
things are motorbikes, not e bikes. Let's be honest, And
I mean I don't use course language, but I let
him know that I was pretty upset with him, and
he just kept on writing motoring along. He didn't care.
So today the conversation about it, at the risk of
sounding like we belong on one of those news talk
radio stations, we need to have a chat about them.
I might also add that our scooters that we had
(04:14):
were limited to twenty four kilometers an hour, and we
always thought the kids were helmets and they came off
a couple of times and really hurt themselves, Like you
can hurt yourself really, really badly when you come off
one of these things. Anyway, let me give you the
headline numbers, the stats, the big picture stats that are
concerning I did some research between January twenty twenty one
(04:34):
and December twenty twenty four, so we don't have any
of this year's data in the stats that I'm sharing,
and it's only got worse. But there were nearly five
thousand people who showed up in emergency departments with east
scooter injuries during that same period. Eight people died from
eastcooter incidents. That was twenty sorry, that was twenty twenty
four alone. And just in the past few weeks, like
I said, in Queensland has been at least two deaths,
(04:55):
one a teenager on the Gold Coast, another an eight
year old boy on the Sunshine Coast who is hit
by a teenager who is riding one of these e bikes.
Just devastating for kids specifically. One regional Queensland hospital was
actually the Sunshine Coast Hospital, saw one hundred and seventy
six kids aged five to five point fifteen with eastcooter
injuries in just two years. It turns out it's about
(05:15):
one percent of all their pediatric emergency visits.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I actually wasn't aware at just how many kids are
being heard. Those are some really big numbers. What is
actually the cause of the majority of injuries.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, so probably not surprising. The data shows that fractures
the big one. Thirty seven percent of cases head injuries,
even with kids wearing helmets, upper limb injuries. But what
really gets me is this, eleven percent of the pediatric
cases were classified as life threatening or potentially life threatening,
so one in just over one in ten life threatening
or potentially life threatening kids are getting hurt really seriously.
(05:54):
In the Queensland study, forty two percent weren't wearing helmets,
thirty six percent was speeding, twelve percent had two kids
on one scoot, doubling median age. Of these accidents, fourteen
boys make up seventy one percent of the cases, no surprises.
They're injury spiked really dramatically around about the ages of
fourteen to fifteen.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So these stats, we're not talking about eight year olds
falling off a scooter here, these older children who are
being reckless.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah well well yeah, I mean it's teenagers and they're
treating these things like toys, but they're capable of real
speed and real damage. There are people around our Sunshine
Coast suburb and we see it all the time. They're
wearing their full face helmets and they're on these scooters
and I kid, you know not they're going fast than
(06:42):
the car. So it's a fifty or a sixty zone
and they're going they're overtaking cars.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
There's a couple of kids and it's the same kids
every time. Down one of our major intersections. There are
three lanes on either side, and they're up on one
wheel and just doing crazy stuff in the middle of
peak our traffic. Yeah, it's infuriating as a parent watching
other kids taking risks like this, but it's also really scary.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
You get really upset about it when we're together. You
pointed out all the time, and I'm kind of conflicted.
They're obviously doing potentially risky. It's not potentially risky.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
It is risky, but it's not only risky to themselves.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
They could hurt somebody.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
There's so many moving parts around them. Any number of
outcomes can can happen at this. So the question everybody
I'm assuming is asking, is should I be buying one
for my kid?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
I know I've had a number of parents say what
do you reckon? Yes or no? Is it a good
idea or not?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Look, I know when we first got ours, like we
were really like very very cautious. We talk to the kids,
this isn't a toy, this is actually a machine.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Well, I mean it is a toy, but it's a
toy that you've got to respect and be careful around,
and just things like they'd be on the footpath and
then they go onto the grass and they learned really
quickly that those little wheels don't bounce, like if there's
a verge between the grass and the footpath, the wheel
you can sort of slide along it and come off.
And we had a couple of a couple of kids
really hurt themselves doing that. My short answer is, I
(08:10):
don't think that we should be buying them for our kids,
and if we are, we shouldn't. We really need to
be having big conversations, serious conversations, big caveats around this.
And that's because these are not like the scooters that
we grew up with. They are legally scooters. Like I said,
they can go twenty five k's an hour. A lot
of e bikes and scooters are being illegally modified so
they're going sixty k's. I have heard of somebody I
(08:34):
actually know them. They have an e bike that can
go up to ninety kilometers an hour. This is no
longer an e bike. This is not a pedal assist bike.
This is a motorbike. I don't care what you call it.
And kids, especially kids in their early adolescent years, they
don't have the impulse control, they don't have the risk
assessment developmentally, they're just not ready to handle that kind
of responsibility as a general rule, because they're not growing
(08:56):
up with these machines on farms and being taught from
an early age how to respect the responsibility that goes
along with it.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
But I know my kid, right, I know they're responsible.
They wear their helmet, they do the right thing. So
how does that play out?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, and helmet's help. Kids without helmets are seventy eight
percent more likely to suffer head injuries than kids with helmets.
But kids are riding them at night, they're, like you said,
writing them in peak hour traffic. They're on the road.
The question isn't just have I got a responsible child?
It is every other child around them responsible. Because thirteen
(09:31):
percent of injuries involve motor vehicles. Five kids in New
South Wales were hit as pedestrians by someone else's scooter.
If you're considering it, then I reckon they need to
be older, they need to be at least sixteen, they
need to be mature, and you need to have iron
clad rules. So after the break, let's talk about what
the laws are in Australia. We'll also talk about the
pros and cons of going ahead with something like this
(09:52):
for Christmas. And lastly, I want to talk about the
best way to have the conversations. If you do have one,
or if you are going to get one for your kids,
stay with us. You're back. This is the Happy Family's podcast.
If you like the pod and you're enjoying making your
(10:13):
family happy because of the stuff you're hearing, we'd love
for you to like and share and leave a rating
and review. It helps make the podcast more visible, So
please jump into the app. It takes you like thirty
seconds and it makes a big impact for us. Okay, Kylie,
where to from here? What have we got to answer?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
What are the laws around e bikes and east cooters?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So they vary by state. I would say that they're
quite messy and pretty much every jurisdiction right now is
having a big debate about how they're going to run
inquiries and they're doing reviews into the laws. This is
a really hot topic politically right now. The general consensus
and check your local state legislature and website for more information,
(10:51):
but the general position is you're allowed to have ees
scooters that can go up to twenty five k's and
our kids under twelve are not supposed to be writing
them at all, or at least in Queensland, kids between
twelve and fifteen should be supervised by an adult. You've
got to be wearing a helmet. E bikes are supposed
to be limited to two one hundred and fifty. Watt's
big problem is that you can get modified e bikes
like I said, and go ninetyks an hour six thousand
(11:11):
what motors. You can import them legally because they're not
classified as road vehicles, so you're buying a motorbike, but
there's no regio, there's no insurance, there's no checks or
anything like that. It's pretty intense.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So it sounds like the law hasn't actually caught up
with the technology that's available, and.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Not with the way that people are using it either. Yeah,
and we actually we saw the police getting stuck into
people who are doing this recently. But police are issuing
heaves of infringements I came across one stat that said
that in Wa alone, eighty five percent were for not
wearing helmets. But the police literally cannot be everywhere, and
what are they going to do when they see thirty
(11:50):
kids riding down the street. You can't pull thirty kids over.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
We actually saw this when we were on holidays recently
down on the Gold Coast. Police were on at the
footpath and were stopping e bikes as they were coming through.
The curious thing to me watching it as a bystander
was that these were kind of adults and they were
taking precautions, they were doing the right thing, but they
(12:14):
were being discriminated against. Yet there were kids on the
road who were going, you know, twice as fast, weren't
wearing helmets, and they were completely missed because because the
path pilice from the foot path. It just doesn't make
sense to me.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And the people who are being fined were clearly not
happy and were trying to argue their point. I mean,
the reality is some of them were going too fast,
they certainly weren't wearing helmets, they were writing in places
they weren't supposed to be writing, like they were still
doing the wrong thing. But it's really hard to stomach
it when ten meters away over on the road you're
watching kids and adults literally fly by doing exactly the
(12:50):
same thing and not being touched. Although that's that's the
nature of everything on the road, Like if you're speeding
and everyone else is speeding, and then sometimes you're just
the one that gets pulled over by the high patrol.
That it's just the way it goes. Not that it's
happened to me for about forty years, but or thirty
how old am I? I've just aged myself. So let's
talk about the pros and cons. There's a whole lot
(13:11):
of pros. There's a whole lot of cons. What should
we start with? What do you think is going to
be more fun?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Oh? Come on, we've been a bit of a Debbie
downer to start with, So let's let's pick up the
pace a bit. What are the pros all right?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
For me? Independence, especially for older teens who are in
suburban areas where there's poor public transport, they can provide
genuine independence. My favorite two words go outside and this
gets the kids off screens and it gets them outside.
So I'm really big on the independence as a as
a positive here if they've got a proper e bike,
(13:44):
not one of those motorbikes. E bikes still require pedaling,
so there's some exercise.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yes, So I don't see any kids on a traditional
e bike. They're all on these. Yeah, Literally push a
button and your ped like you don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
You've got to do ten pedals and it's up to
speed and then it does the rest. So it's a
pretty weak probe, but I'm asking it's weak, I'm putting
it in the list anyway, sue me. The third one,
I think that in a very serious way, there are
a lot of people who have accessibility issues, and so
if you've got a child with physical limitations or some
kind of disability, eat bikes may in some cases be
(14:19):
genuinely liberating because they can now keep up with their peers.
And the other advantage is if you've got kids who
need to get to work or they don't have a
driver's license so they can't afford a car cost and
transport minimal maintenance. I just think that there are some
really good advantages there replace those short car trips. They
require us to drive them to work or to school
(14:39):
less less well, I was going to say less congestion
on the road. But it depends on what they're doing
and how they're doing it. I think if we're serious
about sustainable transport, immobility definitely has a role. I just
don't like the role.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
But it's currently playing well the wrong people are using them.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Or they're using them the wrong ways. Yeah, so let's
do the cons It's a long list. Number one injury rates,
climbing fast. We cover the stats. It's a genuine public
health issue. Speed mismatch.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
So you get so you've you've acknowledged this, you're on
a pedal bike, you're on a bike path, and then
you've got a kid coming past you at motorbike speed.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
On the wrong side of the path. So dangerous sharing
this phone, yeah, yeah, fully. And it's not just that
like you see them you mentioned in the shopping center
car park. So you've got kids on shared paths with
pedestrians or going through a shopping center location or a
congested area, and you've got elderly people and you've got
toddlers and prams and shopping carts, and you've got a
fourteen year old going thirty ks an hour on some
(15:40):
of those footpaths. It's a collusion waiting to happen, and
there are too many tragic tales already, including funerals other disadvantage.
Kids just aren't complying when it comes to helmets.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
But they never have been. Yeah, like skateboarding, like just.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
But this is prolifect like these, these these are everywheys.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Have always been an issue. They're not called.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I remember said if you don't need a head, you
don't need a helmet. That was the TV ad when
I was a kid growing up. Some studies indicate about
thirty three percent of kids are wearing helmets. Depends on
the study, I'd say in real life it's probably lower
brain development. Kids' brains are still risk assessment. It's just
an issue peer pressure. The kids are doing doubles and triples,
(16:27):
they're racing, they're doing tricks post and boast on social
media enforcement. We've talked about it's impossible and parents don't
know what the kids are doing. A couple of others
cost of modifications. When I was researching for this podcast,
I haven't told you this. Kids are buying modifiers online
so they can get rid of the speed limitterters. You
can have a legal twenty five kilometer e bike. Spend
(16:48):
fifty bucks and get it to go sixty k's an hour. Wow,
Like this is within the reach of most kids and
pedestrian injuries. We're just seeing so many people being hit
by e bikes scooters and everyone who goes to the
hospital that was hit by somebody doing the wrong thing here,
they did not choose to be part of that equation.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
You've been waffling for a long time.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Now, Oh hush, course, so riveting. This is good quality content.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
We're at like seventeen minutes. You promise, nice, short, easy
to listen to.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Okay, all right, let's move on.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
So give us some practical advice. Where do we go
from here? As a parent, I've got a child and
the top item on their wish list for Christmas as
an e bike. They're fourteen, and what am I going
to do?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So, I mean, my short answer is, I don't think
you should get them that. I really don't get them
a normal bike that sucks. I don't care. I want
one with the motor tough luck, that's just not going
to happen. I think you want kids to be at
least sixteen, preferably a little bit older. I just don't
think that they need them the data and the developmental science.
In my viewpoint that way. Start small. You want to
(17:57):
make sure that they're confident on a bike or a
scooter first, one of them outside, right, I mean, then
non negotiable rules. They've got to wear a helmet. They're
not allowed to double they're not allowed to write at night,
they're not allowed to ride in traffic, speed limits matter.
I'm not allowed to look at their phone while they're
on the thing. Like, these are common sense things, and
I don't think that parents are having these conversations with
their kids. They're saying, here's the bike, go for your life,
(18:18):
fill your boots. I think you've got to check it regularly,
make sure they haven't modified it, and if they do.
If they do, then they don't write it. They lose
the privilege for a week or a month or whatever.
I'm not big on punitive responses, but they've got to
play by the rules. And if they already have one, well,
(18:38):
whether they do or not. Three is conversations, frank conversations.
Talk about what you're worried about, Explore what's going on
for them, come up with solutions together where they can
use it and be safe again. I'm not beyond consequences,
but they matter. First offense, without a helmet, it gets
locked up for a week. Second offense, you lose it.
If you want one, you can pay for it yourself,
and you'll pay for the fine and you'll do everything
(19:00):
else as well. I just the costs are high, the
cost of high. And if you're saying no, don't feel guilty.
The data supports you. Like a parent's job is to
keep the kids safe, and sometimes we.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Just you don't give your kids keys to a car
before they've learned to drive.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
And they've got a learner's permit, that's right, and.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
This is a genuine risk to their safety and those
around them.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah, they don't know the road rules, but they're on
the roads. I mean, in so many ways, this is
like having a driver's license, but oh sorry, driving on
the road. But you're just not in a car, you're
on a bike. It's look, I'm not anti technology, and
we do need to wrap this up. I think that
emobility has a place, and I think that there's some
real benefits and bonuses for our kids and for our
(19:43):
families and for us. It's quite convenient, but right now
we're running this massive uncontrolled experiment on our kid's safety.
The laws are inconsistent, enforcement is patchy at best, and
the injury numbers are frankly terrifying. So our jobs to
look at the DAR, understand the developmental realities and make
decisions that are going to prioritize our kids safety over
(20:04):
convenience or pit pressure. And sometimes that means saying no.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Even when it's not the popular answer.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Especially especially then. Anyway, let's wrap it up. There, enough questions,
enough time, Good luck for Christmas. If this is on
your kid's Christmas wish list. The Happy Families podcast is
produced by Justin Rulan from Bridge Media, Mim Hammond's provised research,
admin and other support. If you'd like boring fo to
make your family happier, visit us at happy families dot
com DoD a
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.