Collision injury data are available from several sources in Marin County and beyond. But they need to be collected in one place. And data must be disaggregated by class and brand.
Marin County: The County publishes a Bicycle Safety Dashboard with data based on 911 calls since October 2023. The key result is that the accident rate for 10-15 year olds is more than 5 times higher than any other age group. And unlike the older age groups, a higher percentage of these injuries are traffic-related rather than solo accidents.
Together with surveys of the number and types of e-wheels at local schools, the County data also shows that while throttle two-wheelers (e-bikes and e-motos combined) account for only 15 percent of the two-wheelers at middle schools, they account for over 50 percent of the serious injury collisions.
The County also segregates its data by traffic-related and non-traffic-related. This slice raises concerns about e-wheels safety for 10-15 year olds too. For that age group, traffic-related injuries are twice as frequent on e-wheels as conventional — the opposite of all other age groups. And while the non-traffic related injuries for 10-15 years is about the same for conventional and electric, all other groups have a much higher rate for conventional. These data suggest that e-wheels are particularly dangerous for 10-15 year olds — and we know that most of the e-wheels are actually illegal e-motos, not e-bikes.
The County has information about the brand and type of e-wheel involved in these incidents. But it has declined to release it, claiming the sample is too small.
Marin Municipalities: Several Marin municipalities also record injury information by type of vehicle. E-bike Access has used the Public Records Act to obtain this information. It heightens our concern about the need for enforcing the laws against illegal e-motos.
For example, according to the Central Marin Police Authority, at least 90-95% of accidents in Central Marin as of July 2024 involved throttle e-motos mislabeled as class 2 e-bikes. A majority of the accidents involved Super73s; other brands included Juiced Rip Rider, Ride1Up, Ride Pro SS and Lectric XP3. For the record provided by CMPA, a majority of the rider victims were under 16 years of age.
Huntington Beach: (as reported by the Huntington Beach Police Dept., June 25, 2025) “According to data from Children’s Hospital Orange County, youth e-bike trauma cases have increased more than 1,500% since 2019. Huntington Beach currently leads Orange County in micromobility-related trauma admissions involving riders under 18. Nearly half of local e-bike collisions involve untrained, underage riders — many of whom were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash.
"‘We’re seeing more serious head injuries because kids are riding at high speeds with no helmet and no training,’ said Amy Frias, CHOC/Rady Children’s Health Community Safety Educator and Safe Kids OC Coordinator. ‘It’s a dangerous combination, and the numbers we’re seeing in the trauma center are only part of the story.’
“Since May 2023, HBPD has responded to more than 1,300 micromobility-related nuisance calls, ranging from traffic violations to near-miss incidents. But even those figures likely don’t capture the full scope of the issue.”
Children’s Hospital Orange County: “‘What we started seeing was more adult-like injuries with higher severity and multiple extremities injured instead of just an isolated injury,’ Dr. Schlechter says. ‘We’re also now seeing multiple organ system involvement — neurological issues with abdominal issues with orthopedic issues — whereas a similar injury from a regular bicycle would result in a leg fracture. If you were to remove the injury mechanism, my theory is that you would remove these types of injuries and surgeries in children and adolescents.’
