The metro area's e-bike injuries are surging
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Metro Denver hospitals are treating a surge of serious injuries as electric rides become popular gifts, warm-weather commuting tools and high-speed toys.
By the numbers: Seven of HCA HealthONE's hospitals have recorded 149 e-bike- and e-scooter-related injuries in their trauma registries so far this year.
- That compares with 133 in all of 2025.
- The hospitals recorded 92 cases in 2024 and 53 in 2023.
HCA HealthONE Swedish has reported 40 emergency department cases this year — 11 short of the hospital's total last year.
- The hospital's Aurora location logged 17 cases so far in 2026, up from six last year.
Zoom in: Shevie Kassai, Aurora's trauma medical director, tells me her hospital is admitting patients with concussions, brain bleeds, spinal cord injuries and handlebar-related internal injuries.
- Treating brain injuries linked to e-bikes and scooters has become an almost-daily occurrence, she says.
Caveat: The trauma registries likely undercount the injuries emergency rooms treated because coding depends on how patients describe crashes and how hospitals record them.
- Pre-2025 tallies may also exclude patients who weren't admitted, transferred or killed.
Still, the data shows a clear and sustained rise.
The count also includes: HCA HealthONE Centennial, Mountain Ridge, Presbyterian St. Luke's and Rocky Mountain Children's Hospital, Rose and Sky Ridge.
Zoom out: U.S. e-bike sales have more than quadrupled over the past five years, and about 41% of emergency visits for e-bike injuries in 2024 and 2025 involved patients ages 10 to 19.
The latest: A 13-year-old Denver boy died last month, weeks after a vehicle hit him as he rode a Veo e-bike.
- And a 23-year-old Aurora man died this month after police said his minibike collided head-on with a vehicle. Police said he wasn't wearing a helmet.
What they're saying: Kassai says the danger isn't limited to faster e-motos.
She recently treated a teenager who suffered a spinal injury after crashing an e-scooter "going about 20 mph" while not wearing a helmet.
- "Sometimes we're seeing concussions, and sometimes they're devastating injuries," Kassai says.
Driving the news: Municipalities across metro Denver are cracking down on non-street legal off-highway electric vehicles.
Yes, but: Kassai says parents should better understand what they're buying — and helmets are never optional.