ORANGE PARK, Fla. – For nearly a year, News4JAX has reported on several stories about the serious injuries people have sustained while riding electric bikes and scooters, and in many cases, people have been killed.
Dr. Steven Goodfriend, an emergency medicine physician at HCA Florida Orange Park, said he is treating people of all ages with these types of injuries.
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“I have seen some, sometimes 8, 9 and 10-year-olds, which is pretty young,” Goodfriend said.
Children and teenagers are the common demographic.
But Goodfriend said he is also seeing older patients being rushed to the hospital after being injured on an e-bike.
“I would say in the 70s,” Goodfriend said of the oldest patient he cared for recently. “Some of these e-bikes are going 50+ miles per hour. Injuries can be from a normal slip and fall off of a regular bike and having scrapes or abrasions, or we are seeing significant sometimes head injuries, neck injuries, collapsed lungs.”
In April 2025, News4JAX reported on 12-year-old Parker Anderson, who lost control while riding his e-bike and crashed in St. Johns County. He was not wearing a helmet.
“E-bikes versus car, which the e-bike never wins that game,” Goodfriend said. “I see people not wearing helmets, too. That puts patients at higher risk, too.”
Parker spent two weeks recovering in a hospital and underwent rehab.
News4JAX Anchor John Asebes talked with Parker and his dad three months later.
“Whenever I said, ‘Where am I? Why am I here?” Parker said those were the first words he remembers saying in the hospital. “Brain bleeds, brain, [swelling], and a fractured skull,” he said of the kinds of injuries he sustained.
“They are kids,” Jeremy Anderson said about his son. “They are going to have fun. You just need to teach them to be safe. It is okay to be safe. You can still have fun and be safe.”
On Feb. 12, a woman was killed while riding an electric scooter on Jacksonville’s Westside in a hit-and-run. Police are still looking for the driver responsible.
Recently, Florida lawmakers unanimously advanced Senate Bill 382, which is the “E-bike Safety Bill.” It would have a 10 mph speed limit on a sidewalk for those riding an e-bike or an electric scooter.
RELATED | Florida lawmakers advance E-bike safety bill with 10 mph sidewalk speed limit
The same bill would also require riders of certain e-bikes to have a driver’s license in order to operate them.
That rule would apply to Class 3 E-Bikes. They stop providing pedal assistance once they reach a speed of 28 miles an hour.
If the bill ultimately passes, it would become law in the summer of 2027.