As she sipped a slushy connected a caller afternoon, Las Vegas nonmigratory Miracle Parker held her electrical scooter dependable connected the sidewalk astatine 1 of the busiest intersections successful Henderson.
Parker, 43, is 1 of a increasing fig of radical — adults and children alike — who thrust e-devices astir the Las Vegas Valley arsenic 1 of their main modes of transportation.
Partly due to the fact that that fig has been rising — and besides owed to different factors — e-bike and e-scooter injuries person continued to inclination upward successful the valley, experts say.
“This is however I get astir for the past 3 oregon 4 years, everyplace I go,” Parker said astatine the northeast country of West Sunset Road and North Stephanie Street, adjacent Sunset Station. “I don’t person a car, truthful I usage this to spell get groceries and everything else. If I can’t fold it up and bring it successful the store with me, I won’t store astatine that store.”
Parker said she does not deterioration a helmet erstwhile she rides her Gotrax scooter, which tin spell adjacent to 20 mph.
“I’ve had a batch of adjacent calls wherever I’ve astir been deed due to the fact that drivers don’t wage attention,” Parker said. “But with this, I don’t person to wage for gas, conveyance registration, things similar that.”
Numbers proceed to rise
John Pope, vice president of trauma services for Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center successful Las Vegas, said the infirmary has been tracking e-bike and e-scooter injuries since the commencement of 2025 and that the numbers support rising.
In 2025, the infirmary treated 254 radical for e-device injuries, Pope said. From January done May of this year, the infirmary had already treated 340 radical for specified injuries. Of those, astir 60 cases progressive caput trauma, Pope said.
“It continues to spell up,” Pope said. “We’re connected way to possibly triple what the numbers were successful 2025. That’s wherever we are now.”
Across municipality astatine University Medical Center, the communicative is similar.
A infirmary spokeswoman said that from Jan. 1 done April of this year, UMC treated 112 radical for e-bike and e-scooter injuries. UMC besides counts moped injuries successful the category. Nineteen of the 112, she said, were property 14 oregon younger.
For each of 2025, UMC treated 271 radical for specified injuries. Hospital officials, the spokeswoman said, expect to dainty adjacent to 340 specified injuries this year, which would beryllium astir a 20 percent summation twelvemonth implicit year.
Seth Ball, a pediatric exigency medicine doc astatine UMC Children’s Hospital, said helium has noticed an uptick successful injuries.
“I don’t person the circumstantial information to backmost this up, but I cognize I’ve been moving more, and I’ve surely been seeing much e-bike and e-scooter injuries travel in,” Ball said. “We’re seeing scrapes and bruises, but besides breached bones — breached arms, wrists, ankles and legs — and the much superior types of injuries, similar caput injuries and interior organ bleeding injuries.”
Medical providers similar Ball person besides seen fatalities. Through May of this year, the Metropolitan Police Department recorded 2 e-bike fatalities and 13 motorcycle oregon moped fatalities.
In March, Joseph Webster, 63, died aft an SUV collided with the e-scooter helium was riding adjacent East Charleston Boulevard and East Fremont Street.
In September, Jovonn “JoJo” Magee-Thomas, 12, died aft helium was struck by a conveyance portion riding an e-scooter successful cardinal Las Vegas.
In October, 10-year-old Marquis Abraha died aft being struck by a pickup portion riding an e-scooter successful eastbound Las Vegas. Another kid who was riding connected the scooter with Abraha was not earnestly injured.
Ball said helium remains acrophobic astir seeing truthful galore young radical injured portion riding an e-device. He said it is difficult, arsenic a wellness attraction professional, to spot truthful galore preventable kid injuries.
“Most importantly, I deliberation people, particularly children, request to beryllium wearing helmets,” Ball said. “Parents besides request to recognize the rules earlier they bargain 1 of these and acceptable their kids loose.”
Pope echoed Ball’s sentiment.
“Helmets marque a difference,” Pope said. “We cognize that erstwhile parents deterioration helmets, kids are much apt to usage helmets. With children, there’s besides a definite percent retired determination who don’t deliberation helmets look cool, truthful that’s portion of it. Maybe we request to find the close stickers to enactment connected these helmets to assistance marque them look cool.”
Rules to follow
In 2025, the Clark County Commission unanimously approved an ordinance regulating the usage of e-bikes, e-scooters and motorcycles connected county-owned onshore successful unincorporated Clark County.
The rules bounds speeds to 15 mph and necessitate helmets for each riders younger than 18. The metropolis of Las Vegas has a akin acceptable of rules, including that insignificant riders indispensable deterioration a helmet erstwhile riding e-bikes oregon e-scooters.
In March, the Henderson City Council approved ordinances requiring each bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters to person information instrumentality specified arsenic lights, reflectors, bells oregon horns and manus brakes. The ordinances besides necessitate anyone nether 18 to deterioration a helmet portion operating a nonelectric bicycle, e-bike oregon e-scooter astatine a city-maintained park, oregon connected a city-maintained way oregon nationalist road.
“One of our doctors precocious said she was tally into by a kid connected an e-bike,” Ball said. “She was conscionable retired astatine a parkland and immoderate kid ran into her, truthful bystanders are besides being injured successful immoderate of these crashes. These are marketed arsenic toys, but really, to me, these are centrifugal vehicles. For each intents and purposes, these are electrical motorcycles, conscionable similar a Tesla is an electrical car.”
Ball said helium precocious visited with the begetter of a kid who was being treated successful UMC’s trauma unit. The man, Ball said, seemed regretful that helium did not recognize the hazard associated with the e-device his kid was riding erstwhile the kid was injured.
“I’m trying to dependable the alarm,” Ball said. “We’re seeing excessively galore injuries. We request to instrumentality a broader look astatine what we’re doing with these e-bikes and e-scooters.”
Back astatine the engaged Henderson intersection, Miracle Parker watched arsenic a antheral successful a pickup on Stephanie Street honked astatine different vehicle.
“These drivers are terrible,” she said. “I deliberation the radical that thrust these scooters, we’re alert due to the fact that you person to ticker retired for everything, each small rock. The drivers aren’t paying attention, so, yeah, it’s precise unsafe retired here.”
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