There’s a good chance you’ve seen kids zipping around on electric scooters or e-bikes without helmets.
A new survey from Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago finds the majority of Illinois parents are not pushing their kids to protect their heads while riding them.
The Voices of Child Health report finds 48% of parents say they always require their minor children to wear helmets on e-bikes.
The number drops to 36% for those on e-scooters.
Senior Author Marie Heffernan says that aligns with what emergency physicians are witnessing.
“The frequency of seeing kids in the ER for injuries related to e-scooters is increasing,” she told WBBM.
Responses to the survey conducted with 1,000 parents in late 2024 did not differ significantly based on their income, race or where they live but Heffernan says college-educated parents were more likely to require them than those who do not have a degree.
Also families with at least one child over the age of 10 were significantly less likely to require helmets than families with younger children.
To avoid head injuries that can come from falls, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests riders wear a helmet, wait until they’re 16 to start using an e-scooter and not carry a passenger.