As San Diego E-bike Injuries Spike, Here’s How Lawmakers Try to Keep Up

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Illustration by Crystal Niebla and Iran Martinez Jr. | inewsource

Why this matters

Lawmakers faced a lack of coherent data while designing new e-bike rules, leading to debate over the best way to regulate the increasingly popular mode of transportation.

A few years ago, people walking into Sharp Coronado Hospital’s emergency room with e-bike injuries was a rare, maybe occasional, occurrence.

Now, Dr. William Bianchi said, it happens weekly.

“These things are basically like small motorcycles in my mind,” said Bianchi, the hospital’s medical director of emergency medicine.

Concussions, bone fractures, sprained ankles — those are common, he said. But he worries about more severe injuries: a collapsed lung that requires a chest tube, or worse, a cerebral hemorrhage that causes irreversible brain damage.

E-bikes have soared in popularity in the past few years. Injuries have skyrocketed, too. Lawmakers at the city and state level have responded with legislation, including a pilot program in San Diego County that sets an age limit for riders. But they’re relying on public safety data that is far from comprehensive.

Doctors who are treating e-bike injuries say something needs to be done.

Bianchi said e-bike injuries could quickly overwhelm the small Coronado hospital and its 15-bed ER.

“We can take care of a trauma patient, but there’s no saying how sick you are, and there’s no saying how long it’s gonna take for me to get you from Coronado to the specialized trauma center if that’s what you need,” he said.

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