Study: Child E-Scooter Injuries Rise 20-Fold in England

British law treats rented and private scooters differently, and many families seem unaware. Since July 2020, people over sixteen have been allowed to rent e-scooters in trial areas, with a limit of about 15.5 miles per hour. Privately owned scooters are still illegal on roads and pavements, yet shops have sold them since 2018, and some can be changed to go much faster. Nearly all the injuries in the study involved private scooters, and three-quarters of the injured children lived in the poorest areas. A separate count by a transport safety group found 59 deaths in Britain since 2019, among riders of every age.

Jacob Calland, aged fourteen, died in Manchester in March 2025 after the friend carrying him went through a red light in a turbo setting that reaches 28 miles per hour. The teenage driver received an eighteen-month rehabilitation order, and Jacob's mother started a safety campaign. The Department for Transport called the findings worrying and promised new laws, including a consultation on helmets. In the United States, most e-bikes count as ordinary bicycles, so riders need no licence or helmet. Officials there are testing stricter rules. New York City has warned online shops about illegal machines, and a California prosecutor is investigating more than two dozen parents.