10 Canadian youths died from injuries during e-scooter, e-bike use in 2025: report

Pediatricians are urging better tracking of e-scooter and e-bike injuries after a report shows a “significant number” of severe injuries and deaths among youth who used them last year.

The report, released by the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP), showed data from a survey of pediatricians in 2025. It showed 48 cases of serious injuries or deaths reported. These included 26 cases of hospitalizations lasting more than two days and 12 ICU admissions. There were nine other cases that the report said could not be classified.

But Dr. Daniel Rosenfield said the data showed 10 deaths from personal powered micromobility devices (PPMD) incidents, which he said is some of the first data of youth fatalities aside from media and police reports.

“People don’t associate these devices with fatalities, right,” Rosenfield said in an interview. “As the usage of these devices goes up, which we can tell by the number of kids coming in with minor or moderate injuries, then the number of fatalities will also go up.”

E-scooters were the most used device reported among the injuries or deaths.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information showed similar data, with 53 injuries requiring hospitalizations among youth ages five to 17 between 2023 and 2024.

Among the most common injuries found in the CPSP’s data were to the head at 47 per cent and limbs at 40 per cent.

“So the majority of severely injured people are due to head injuries and remember these aren’t injuries that you can walk away from. These people will often have a permanent disability,” Rosenfield said.

Youth aged 10 to 15 were 42 per cent of the cases reported by pediatricians or emergency physicians, with 18 per cent among those five to nine years old. According to the data, the average age for incidents was 10 to 12.

Rosenfield said the issue is complex, but doesn’t blame government for a patchwork of rules surrounding the operation of e-bikes and e-scooters by youth.

In Ontario, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia, youth must be 16 or older to ride a standard e-bike, but other provinces have lower limits such as 15 or 14, or none at all. Quebec has an age limit of 18, but those with a Class 6D licence for mopeds or scooters can ride starting at 14.

For e-scooters, Ontario, P.E.I., Saskatchewan and B.C., again, have firm age limits of 16, but others like Quebec and Nova Scotia set it at 14.

Alberta and Saskatchewan ban e-scooters altogether from public roads, but municipal bylaws allow for their public use in those specific towns and cities like Edmonton or Saskatoon. Both provinces don’t have a specific age limit, leaving it up to municipalities.

The one common factor in many provinces regarding the devices is whether youth or adult, a helmet is required.