A national report is raising concerns about the growing number of children being seriously injured while riding e-scooters and e-bikes, with Ontario accounting for more than half of the deaths recorded last year.
The Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program says 10 children died in incidents involving the electronic devices in 2025, including six in Ontario.
Another 12 young patients were admitted to intensive care units and 26 spent more than two days in hospital.
Overall, 57 severe injuries involving paediatric patients resulted in prolonged hospital stays, ICU admissions or death.
The figures were released Thursday in the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program's annual report, produced jointly by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society. Researchers surveyed 800 physicians across the country to compile the data.
Serious injuries increasing across Canada
The report is among the first to provide a national picture of severe injuries linked to personal powered micromobility devices, including e-scooters, e-bikes, e-skateboards, e-unicycles and hoverboards.
While it does not compare findings with previous years, data released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information last year showed hospitalizations involving e-scooters among children aged five to 17 increased from 33 in 2022-23 to 53 in 2023-24.
Emergency physicians say the findings match what they have been seeing firsthand.
Dr. Daniel Rosenfield, a pediatric emergency physician at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, said e-scooter injuries have become a routine part of his shifts.
"I think we've just hit a tipping point where the availability of these devices and, frankly, popularity of these devices has just eclipsed what we've ever seen before," said Rosenfield, who also chairs the Canadian Paediatric Society's Injury Prevention Committee.
Head injuries among the biggest concerns
Nearly half of the severe injuries identified in the report involved head trauma.
Doctors say those cases can include concussions, skull fractures and brain bleeds. Neurosurgery was the most common surgical procedure required among injured patients.
Rosenfield said the increase has been dramatic at SickKids.
The hospital recorded one emergency department visit related to e-scooter injuries in 2020. That number rose to 26 in 2023, 46 in 2024 and 107 in 2025.
Most severe injuries involve children under 16
Although the minimum age for riders in most provinces is 16, almost 80 per cent of the severe cases documented in the report involved children younger than that.
“The problem right now is that you have a device that is marketed as a toy that is a high speed motor vehicle that children are using,” he said, adding that some devices can reach speeds of 45 km/h.
The report points to a need for stronger public education and better co-ordination of regulations across the country.
Rosenfield said differing rules from province to province, and even city to city, have left many Canadians confused about what is permitted.
In Ontario, municipalities such as Brampton and Mississauga participate in an e-scooter pilot program that allows riders aged 16 and older to travel at speeds up to 24 km/h.
Toronto, meanwhile, prohibits e-scooters on public roads, sidewalks and park pathways, although the devices remain widely available for purchase.
Calls for more consistent rules
The patchwork of regulations extends across Canada.
In Alberta, privately owned e-scooters cannot be ridden on roads or sidewalks. Rental e-scooters are permitted in Edmonton and Calgary through licensed operators, but riders are restricted to designated city pathways.
Dr. Brian Rowe, an emergency and urgent care physician in Edmonton, believes governments should adopt clearer provincewide standards.
“I think you could, at a provincial level, very clearly implement strategies that would be consistent across the province,” Rowe said.
He also questioned whether enough attention is being paid to the healthcare burden associated with injuries.
“I think there is a disconnect in the sense that the city and the rental companies are making money, and nobody really cares about the healthcare system and the disabled citizens.”
Quebec doctors seeing sharp rise in trauma cases
In Quebec, a provincial e-scooter pilot project was recently extended to 2028. The program allows riders as young as 14 to operate e-scooters at speeds up to 25 km/h. Nova Scotia also permits riders starting at age 14.
Since Quebec launched its pilot in 2023, injuries involving e-scooters and e-bikes have increased tenfold at the Montreal Children's Hospital Trauma Centre, according to trauma director Deborah Friedman.
She said most cases do not involve vehicles. Instead, riders are often thrown from the devices and strike the pavement.
Friedman's biggest concern is the age of many patients arriving at the hospital.
Close to 60 per cent of children treated for e-scooter and e-bike injuries this year were younger than 14.
She has urged the province to raise the minimum age to at least 16, although she believes that may still be too young.
Friedman also wants stricter helmet enforcement, noting she frequently sees helmets that were not properly secured in patients who suffer facial fractures, including broken jaws. She said retailers should face greater accountability for how the products are marketed to children.
“I think it's important for policymakers to really collaborate with the trauma centers who are the ones seeing the reality firsthand.”
Some weekends, she said, the children's hospital treats as many as five severe e-scooter trauma cases.
“I'm almost afraid to see what the numbers are going to be like now that the kids are coming back from holiday and camp, and will be back out on the streets and possibly using them to go to school,” Friedman said.
- with files from The Canadian Press
