AAA, TGH launch safety campaign after Tampa doctors report surge in serious e-bike injuries

TAMPA, Fla. - A Pasco County nine-year-old is sharing his crash story as AAA and Tampa's Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH launch a safety campaign, hoping to prevent e-bike injuries this summer.

Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH e-bike safety campaign

The backstory:

In April, Dylan Shepherd, 9, was riding his e-bike at about 20 mph with his father in their neighborhood when he hit debris and flipped over the handlebars.

Dylan’s father, Chris Shepherd, said his son was briefly knocked unconscious.

"I mean, your heart sinks," Chris Shepherd said, recalling the moment.

Doctors at Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH treated him for multiple rib fractures, bruised lungs, a torn spleen and road rash.

Dylan Shepherd was wearing a helmet with full facial protection, which his family believes saved his life.

"We can fix the rest of your body. I can't fix your head," Dylan’s mom, Kaitlyn Shepherd, said, of what the doctors told her. "If there's anything that we can take away from this is to please protect your children. Please make sure they're wearing a helmet and all of the protective gear that they need so that they can come home, and they can still live their lives and have fun and do everything that children should be doing."

Rising number of serious e-bike injuries

By the numbers:

Pediatric surgeons at Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH are concerned by the severity of injuries caused by e-bikes.

"Compared to traditional bicycles, children riding e-bikes experience twice the rate of traumatic brain injuries, nearly five times the rate of bleeding around the brain, and three times the rate of facial fractures," Dr. Jade Kumar, a pediatric surgeon at Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH and John’s Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, said. "These are not scraped knees and bruises. These are injuries that require hospitalization, intensive care, emergency surgery, months of recovery and even death."

Doctors say they’re seeing more and more cases.

"I mean, we've definitely grown our volume. I think we've almost doubled our volume from last year to this year," Kumar said of overall e-bike cases. "It's very common — once a week, we have an e-bike."

'E-Ride Ready' safety initiative

Dig deeper:

While Florida law mandates that riders under 16 years old must wear a helmet, the rules regarding where children can legally ride can vary, which can lead to confusion.

AAA, in partnership with Muma Children’s Hospital at TGH, announced its "E-Ride Ready" campaign Tuesday in an effort to spread awareness and prevent e-bike injuries this summer.

AAA officials recommend purchasing a helmet equipped to handle the specific speed of the rider’s particular e-bike or scooter. They said it’s also important to know the rules of the road.

"E-bikes can also ride where bicycles are allowed, and sidewalk riding is generally permitted. But again, that can vary from one city to another. So that's where it can be very confusing," AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins said. "Local cities pass their own ordinances, and that can be different from the state law. So, it's very important before you ride to know the laws as it applies to where you're riding, not just where you purchased that device."

Pasco County allows e-bikes on streets, sidewalks

Local perspective:

In Pasco County, electric bicycles are permitted on both streets and sidewalks, according to a March safety reminder posted on Facebook by the sheriff's office.

Supervised riding environments

What's next:

Moving forward, the Shepherd family says they’ll be more particular about where they’ll choose to ride.  

"There’ll be a lot more supervision in where we ride. Like I said, we were riding in the neighborhood. And that's an uncontrolled environment," Chris Shepherd said. "When you're at the track, when you go to these tracks, you don't have to watch out for cars and stuff lying in the road that we struck. So yeah, we'll continue to ride, absolutely."

TampaCrime and Public SafetyPasco County