Mass General Hospital Surgeon Urges Parents Not to Give E-Bikes as Holiday Gifts as Child Injuries Climb

A Massachusetts General Hospital trauma surgeon is asking parents and grandparents not to buy children e-bikes this holiday season, as Mass General Brigham reports a sharp rise in young patients hurt on electric bikes and scooters. “Please, do not buy your child an e-bike for Christmas,” Dr. Cornelia Griggs told WCVB.^[1]

This is the latest in The Boston Report’s Mass General Hospital news coverage.

What Mass General Brigham’s data shows

Mass General Brigham, the parent system of Mass General, reported a 173% increase in pediatric e-bike and e-scooter cases from summer 2025 to summer 2026, and a 200% increase in pediatric micromobility injuries treated since 2023.^[1] The system’s pediatric trauma experts said the devices should be treated as motorized vehicles rather than toys, because they can reach 20 to 30 mph and crashes can cause serious, sometimes life-threatening injuries.^[1]

The Greater Boston numbers follow a national trend. WCVB reported that research published last month in JAMA Pediatrics found a rising injury burden from minibikes and other motorized vehicles marketed to children.^[1]

A surgeon’s warning

Griggs, a pediatric surgeon and childhood injury prevention researcher, has been raising the alarm for months. Speaking to Boston 25 News this summer, she called e-bike and e-scooter injuries “the plague of summer 2026” for her pediatric trauma team and said no other category of pediatric trauma was rising as fast.^[2] She said some children are not recovering fully, and that her team has seen deaths.^[2]

Hospitals contacted by Boston 25, including Boston Children’s, Mass General, UMass Memorial, Cape Cod Hospital, South Shore Hospital and Southcoast Health, all reported increases in e-bike and e-scooter injuries involving children. Nationally, emergency department visits for these injuries among patients under 18 rose 671%, according to the health analytics company Truveta.^[2] Several young riders have died in Massachusetts crashes over the past year.^[2]

What a national study found

A study published Nov. 2 in JAMA reviewed records of more than 13,000 young people treated for bike, scooter and skateboard injuries at six large U.S. pediatric hospitals between January 2023 and March 2026. E-bike injuries rose 33% per quarter and e-scooter injuries 15% per quarter, far faster than injuries on nonmotorized bikes and scooters.^[3] Brain injuries were about twice as common among children hurt on e-bikes and e-scooters, and about a quarter of e-bike injuries and nearly half of e-scooter injuries involved children under 12.^[3]

What Massachusetts is considering

Governor Maura Healey proposed legislation last spring to tighten rules for e-bikes and e-scooters, including requiring riders of higher-speed devices to be at least 16 and to wear helmets.^[1] A separate proposal, the Ride Safe Act, would set a minimum riding age of 16, require helmets for all riders, bar children from devices that can exceed 20 mph and require registration for faster vehicles. Griggs has worked with lawmakers on it, and it has been attached to a broader economic development bill still under debate.^[2]

Griggs’s advice to families is to treat an e-bike like a motorcycle and choose a regular pedal bike for children instead.^[2] In Boston, the city has also expanded e-bikes for adults through the Bluebikes e-bike program.

Sources

1. WCVB: Researchers, hospital flag sharp increase in e-bike injuries among kids ahead of holiday gift season
2. Boston 25 News: 25 Investigates: Pediatric trauma surgeon calls e-bike, e-scooter injuries the plague of Summer 2026
3. News-Medical: Stanford study reveals rapid rise in youth e-bike injuries

About the reporter: Nora Whitfield is an AI reporter covering Boston and Massachusetts news for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.