Hospitalizations among children and adults riding e-scooters have risen by almost 40 per cent in the last year, according to new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
There were 837 hospitalizations for e-scooter injuries between April 2025 and March 2026, an increase from 601 in the same period the previous year, data released Tuesday states.
Head and brain injuries and fractures were among the most common reasons e-scooter riders were hospitalized.
“I’m not remotely surprised at the numbers,” said Daniel Rosenfield, a pediatric emergency physician at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and chair of the injury prevention committee for the Canadian Pediatric Society.
“For whatever reason, we’ve seen a real tipping point this past summer of just the prevalence of people using these devices.”
Data showed the number of kids 15 years of age and under hospitalized for e-scooter injuries jumped from 54 youth in 2024-25 to 150 in 2025-26. Among those injured in 2025-26, 122 were boys and 28 were girls.
“It is indeed quite sobering that specifically young teen and preteen boys are the highest jump in morbidity and injury,” Rosenfield said.
Among those aged 16-30, 129 people were hospitalized in 2024-25, compared with 153 in 2025-26.
The reason for the vast difference in hospitalizations stems from the availability of e-scooters, Rosenfield says.
“There are more of these devices out there. So, the more kids and teens that are using them, the more of them that are going to get injured,” he said.
“And as a result, the more people that are on them, the more injuries we’re going to see.”
Get weekly health news
Michael Terner, manager for hospital data management at CIHI, also said it is “not surprising” to see these trends in “large urban areas.”
In 2025-26, 544 people were hospitalized for “fractures and major joint/musculoskeletal injuries” as a result of falling off an e-scooter, accounting for 65 per cent of reported injuries.
Head and brain injuries accounted for 18.8 per cent of injuries at 157.
These are numbers that have continuously increased throughout the years, according to Terner.
“So just that number went up by nearly three-quarters in the last year.”
Conversation around e-scooter safety growing
- Carney, Macron to meet as talks of stronger Canada-EU relationship ramp up
- Celine Dion returns to the stage after 6 years at Paris residency: ‘I missed this’
- Saskatoon rally for the unhoused calls for action on forced displacement
- Canadian boxing icon George Chuvalo, known for his two Ali fights, dies at 89
-
![]()
‘My hydronyms are Lake and Ontario’: Merch takes aim at Trump’s ‘Lake America’ -
![]()
‘Maybe I should remind Donald’: Carney chats with Banff residents -
![]()
‘Egregious behavior:’ Brampton mayor, auto workers outraged as Stellantis decides to sell Brampton assembly plant -
![]()
Ongoing rain halts seeding but farmers are optimistic
A report by the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP) states that 10 Canadian youths died from injuries sustained during both e-scooter and e-bike use in 2025.
Youth aged 10 to 15 were 42 per cent of the cases reported by pediatricians or emergency physicians, with 18 per cent among those five to nine years old. According to the data, the average age for incidents was 10 to 12.
Among the most common injuries found in the CPSP’s data were to the head at 47 per cent and limbs at 40 per cent.
In addition, data from July 2026 from CIHI states that last year saw a 22 per cent spike in hospitalizations from e-scooter injuries across the country.
Between 2024 and 2025, 18 kids up to the age of four suffered injuries related to riding e-scooters, as did 241 between the ages of five and 17, data from CIHI stated.
More than 1,000 Canadians were also hospitalized due to e-scooter-related injuries that year.
A 2022 study from Statistics Canada also noted that the highest number of e-scooter incidents “occur during the summer months … coinciding with the warmer months of the Canadian climate.”
Nova Scotia is planning to prohibit children under 14 from riding e-bikes and e-scooters, which is part of a slate of changes that will be made to the province’s Traffic Safety Act this fall, Public Works Minister Fred Tilley said on Aug. 6.
“The technology on bicycles and cars is changing on the daily, which allows these conveyances to move faster,” Tilley said at the time. “You start to get into a different level of conveyance than a traditional bicycle or cycle.”
P.E.I., Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. also have age restrictions in place for e-bikes and e-scooters.
— with files from Katherine Ward
TAKE OFF THE BLINDERS… ADULTS TOO…LESS AGILE… WITH COMPLETE ABANDONMENT REVEL RECKLESSLY DISREGARDING SAFE RIDING MATTERS TOO ENCOURAGING YOUNGSTERS TO SHOW THEIR TOTAL DISREGARD FOR SAFE RIDING
AN ACCIDENT IN THE MAKING … AGE NOT LIMITING.
EVERY ELECTRIC VEHICLE MUST MUST BE REGISTERED.. AND INSURANCE AN ABSOLUTE IN THE EVENT OF AN INJURY TO INNOCENT BYSTANDERS.,
WHERE ARE THE POLITICIANS SAFETY- POLICE FORCES… PARENTS…???
E-scooter accidents include more that scrapes… Life long scars and injuries a certainty.
A price to pay for riding an electric powered scooter… Including very young.. and not so young…
‘Too soon old.. too late smart’
Like all the data shows, it’s not the fact is escooters, it’s the fact kids are on them, nice article hiding the fact that a lot of Provinces have age restrictions at the end, kids shouldn’t be on them but there’s no enforcement. They also shouldn’t go over 32km/h, BC limits to 25 (too slow in a dangerous way btw, 33 is the right number) but again no enforcement. helmets, super important, no enforcement. There’s no restriction on sales, no tests that need to be taken.
But all of that lack of regulation and lack of enforcement of the regulations we do have result in injuries and because there’s injuries people call for an outright ban. Not ok. These are revolutionary devices for personal transport and it’s not the responsible drivers that are getting hurt. They are only slightly more dangerous then a normal bike and those that are responsible know that so we are even more careful.
They need to come down hard on the underage drivers, no helmets, and those that speed. It’s that simple. Don’t ban them and don’t force their use into places that are dangerous, they should be allowed wherever a bike is, if people are getting hurt then improve the bike infrastructure.
Good
Those that are old enough to know better but fail to pay attention in science class regarding wheel diameter, steering rake, momentum, and road surface irregularity interactions will have to learn the hard way. Word will get around.
Great Devices, but government really messed this unique opportunity for personal transport. best option now is limit them to under 32km/hr, over 16, with some kind of insurance and a drivers permit of some kind… the cats are out of the bag….
In other news…
-ebike sales up 40%, ebike injuries up 40%
– pickleball popularity up 40%, pickleball injuries up 40%
My point is the media will report anything for a headline. Why are they not reporting the 2,800 bicycle injuries last year? Well it makes a boring headline.
CIHI does great research. We should be regulating e bikes at the Provincial and federal level.
They don’t even teach kids pedal bike rules anymore. This doesn’t surprise me, the boys I see riding these have no fear.
As long as my tax dollars are not used to treat these riders when they become vegetables. Scoot away i say then……