The Speed of Change: E-bikes, Advocacy & Kids

What does it take to keep kids safe as e-bike use continues to grow? In
Episode 3 of Operation Advocacy, host Joanne Baerg, MD, is joined by Sigrid Burruss, MD, FACS, and Romeo Ignacio, MD, FACS, FAAP, to discuss the rising number of pediatric e-bike injuries, practical steps families can take to improve safety, and how advocacy efforts like the SAFE Ride Act could help protect children. 

Join the conversation. Resources, fact checks, and policy watch links on Padlet.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:03

Welcome to the Operation Advocacy Podcast, improving the lives of children through simple conversations, a podcast produced by pediatric surgeons. Participants in this podcast are not speaking on behalf of any organization, society, or institution with which they may be affiliated. Comments and views shared are independently their own.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 0:20

I am Dr. Joanne Baerg, a pediatric surgeon and injury prevention advocate. I will be hosting today's podcast, e-bike advocacy, kids, and the speed of change. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Dr. Sigrid Burruss and Dr. Romeo Ignacio. Both guests are leaders in e-bike advocacy. Dr. Ignacio is a pediatric surgeon in San Diego and a member of the Imperial County Chapter of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Burruss chairs the Advocacy and Health Policy Committee of the Southern California chapter of the American College of Surgeons. For her work, Dr. Burruss was chosen as the 2026 ACS Advocate of the Year. Dr. Ignacio, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became interested in e-bike advocacy?

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 1:07

So first of all, Joanne, thanks again for inviting us. It's obviously a pleasure to share a topic that both of us are very passionate about. I think I got involved with this topic back in 2021 when I ended up seeing just only three e-bike injuries. And at that time, the injuries were just much more severe than we had seen in previous years. We just had gone over the e-scooter injuries that had just uh sort of subsided. But with the e-bikes, I was concerned that this was going to be a potential problem. And unfortunately, I was right. And after that, I started to collaborate with many other who uh individuals who were passionate about this topic, and one of them is Dr. Burruss. And so we have worked together along with other organizations, societies, various stakeholders, and really want to make a big difference in making lives safer for children who use e-bikes. But that's how I was involved.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 2:04

Dr. Burruss, can you tell us how you became interested in this advocacy topic?

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 2:08

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having

Not just a Bicycle

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 2:11

us. And this is one of those issues that's uh becoming more and more prevalent. And you know, as uh Dr. Ignacio mentioned, you know, a few years ago, we really didn't see any e-bike injuries. And then they started to trickle in, and now it's a daily occurrence. And so uh, you know, when speaking with patients about uh their e-bikes and uh why they have them, uh what training they've had, uh, we really identified uh a lack of understanding as to what e-bikes uh are and the injuries that are associated with them. And that's how I got involved with the advocacy work that uh Dr. Ignacio and many others are working on as well.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 2:53

So, Dr. Burruss, in addition to um being interested in e-bikes as a trauma critical care surgeon, you are also a mom. And when we were preparing for this podcast, you indicated that you had purchased an e-bike for your child. Can you share your story about this? Absolutely.

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 3:12

The e-bikes in general are something that can be used safely if we understand the risks associated with them. So just like when purchasing any other items for your child, I think the parents have to have a really good understanding of what we're getting. And uh in my work as a trauma surgeon and already seeing these e-bike injuries, I had some understanding of uh what the risks were in terms of getting an e-bike. And uh when my son brought up wanting to get an e-bike, it was really because all of his friends have one, right? And so he wanted to keep up with them on their bike rides as they were heading into the summer. And this was uh between seventh and eighth grade, so he would have been 13 and a half years old. Uh and so, you know, in trying to understand why he wanted an e-bike, what the purpose was, and also discussing the risks of it, we uh it landed on getting a class one e-bike so that he would still get exercise. He still had a pedal, but he would be able to keep up with his friends on the bike trail. And then also had him take an e-bike safety course to really make sure that he fully understands the rules of the roads. And that all is built on having ridden bikes together for many, many years. So conventional bicycle, uh, you know, riding to the park on the bike trails, and knowing that he understands the rules of the road. He knows to be aware of the traffic around him. He's been very consistent with his helmet use. And so uh, although some things are unpredictable, um, I felt pretty very confident that he would be uh safe on his class one e-bike.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 4:49

Thank you for explaining all that. You both mentioned that you became interested in the topic because the rate of injury appeared to be increasing. Um so let's talk about those numbers. Um, can either of you speak to what the data shows about e-bike injuries, fatalities, what really is the scope of the problem right now in 2026?

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 5:12

Yeah, I think when um looking locally, uh, I'm gonna talk about the children's hospitals. You know, Dr. Laura Goodman is the trauma medical director at the Children's Hospital of Orange County, is our sister hospital for Rady Children's Health. And we looked at both of our numbers, and it is now e-bikes are the number one cause for trauma activations in Orange County. For us last year it was number two, but the way the numbers are we're seeing, you know, we saw over 90 the first three months here at Rady Children's Health San Diego. It will also be a number one cause for trauma activations. And much of these injuries require, you know, ER services, trauma surgeon services, operative services, and even ICU care. We also did a study looking at the national numbers, and we did a retrospective cross-sectional study through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, and we looked at the years between 2019-2023, and in those years there was over 15,000 pediatric patients that were related to e-bikes. Majority of them were male, about 80%. And if you look over that five-year period, I think there was an interesting trend. You know, the initial year it was only 4% of those cases were in 2019. In the last year, it was 50%. And what we're seeing is a doubling of the number every year, a year and a half. So it's no longer a niche, a niche type of injury. It's it's a rapidly growing public health issue, especially among our teenagers.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 6:48

Those numbers indicate a real burden on our hospital system and something that we all need to be aware and pay attention to.

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 6:55

And I think when you talk asked me about the injuries, you know, um, another study we did looked at those injuries, and majority of them are related to speed or obviously not obeying the traffic rules of the road. And if you compare that to the conventional non-motorized bicycles, we see a higher incidence of head, neck, or facial injuries. If you compare it, it's about 50% of those we see in the study. And there is a greater proportion of children with speed-related injuries to organ injuries. And I I don't see that here in San Diego. Almost a quarter, 24%, you know, end up being admitted because of their uh internal organ injuries. And so that shows you the speed, acceleration, and probably a lack of experience that have led to many of these injuries that we don't typically see for the non-motorized bicycles. These are basically injuries that we see with motorcycle type vehicles.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 7:53

So let me just reflect back to what I think I hear you're saying. If children would slow down when they ride their e-bikes, wear their helmets, obey the rules, and possibly if we had age limits, some of these injuries would decrease.

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 8:08

Yeah, absolutely. Just from the those, you know, those first three things that you mentioned, you know, just going slow, being safe, you know, and making sure you're aware of your surroundings. And I think having consistent rules. I mean, most of most of the rules that we're seeing, they don't only differ between states, but within states. You know, here in California, if I go from here or Orange County or up at uh San Francisco's, the rules for e-bikes are much different. And I think if we have consistent rules and consistent, you know, regulation, I think that would bring safer environments for our children.

Key Stakeholders & Collaboration

Dr. Joanne Baerg 8:41

So talking about rules and regulations, you both took your passion for injury prevention from the trauma bay to the offices of legislators and your interest in improving the rules that children would have to follow. So you both worked together in California for policy changes. Can you talk about your approach and where you succeeded? And also why do you think you succeeded?

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 9:06

There's a few things to highlight, and you know, this is certainly a long process. So uh I think that the first thing is it takes time, right, to really engage with legislators and even highlight the problems. So discussing the numbers uh in terms of e-bike crashes and injuries and potentially underlying reasons as well, uh, which is sometimes difficult to gather that level of granularity. But in addition to the numbers, I mean, what we really have access to is our patient stories, right? So those patients that come in after e-bike crashes that are admitted to the ICU for traumatic brain injury, um, the ones that come in with severe facial fractures requiring surgery, right? Those are those stories that really capture the attention of us, right? That you know, is having severe injuries requiring hospitalizations and really long-term care after discharge as well. And that's also what uh can really engage legislators is to hear from patients about their experiences. And that's then how we can start talking about uh policies that will help uh protect our communities.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 10:20

Dr. Burruss, do you have any specific stories of where you shared a story, a patient story with the legislature and you started to see change?

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 10:29

Yeah, and this has uh been incremental. And so starting at the city level, uh even here in Irvine, where I live, uh being able to meet with some of our council members and uh share data and stories at uh at meetings to be able to again engage them at the city level. Um, and it but as was mentioned, right, we now have legislation that differs from city to city and county to county, which can which can make it very difficult for an e-bike user to know what's lawful or not lawful, and then taking that to the state level. And so uh really coordinating a lot of these efforts with other organizations, including uh the California Medical Association and being able to draft legislation uh looking at uh e-bike safety. Um so there's quite a few bills currently going through uh the committees, uh, some which have already been defeated, but a few others that are uh, you know, hopefully will get passed because they're quite excellent. I think we'll be able to reduce the the burden of injuries and death.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 11:32

Yes, I also participate in your Southern California chapter meeting. So I'm aware that we did discuss that some of these e-bike bills were defeated. Can you tell me how do you think we should push back when bills are defeated?

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 11:46

Yeah, one of the challenges is coordinating uh a lot of these bills. You know, a lot of them come at it from different angles. So, you know, one of the ones that was defeated was going to ask uh e-bike users to use uh a license plate, which makes sense. But when we look at the big picture problem and also the uh burden that you may get placed on lawful e-bike users and the cost of it, those are all things that need to be considered as well as we think about uh legislation. And so ones that will be uh uh effective and feasible are really the crucial ones to follow. And so um, you know, current ones looking at uh having education available about uh e-bike safe uh safety in the schools, right? That that is something that's feasible and effective. Um having uh speed limits in place as well, or requiring helmets, those are going to also be feasible and effective. And so uh, you know, and trying to engage with all of the stakeholders as well, I think is really helpful to uh help get this legislation through.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 12:54

Yes, when we were preparing for this podcast, we talked about collaborations with all of our state ACS committees, we talked about American Academy of Pediatrics collaboration, also the National Traffic Safety Association, and collaboration with law enforcement. Dr. Ignacio, can you expand on any of those organizations and what has been an impactful collaboration?

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 13:20

I think it says it best, you know, collaborating with key stakeholders. I think as pediatric surgeons, we're so comfortable in our little, you know, uh world that we live in. But the reality though is when it comes to advocacy, there's a lot of individuals that share that same passion. And I think it's valuable to hear their perspective, you know, hearing the perspective from parents, from community stakeholders. And most recently, the one I'd like to talk about is law enforcement and uh some of the prosecution that's happening in relation to some of these unfortunate incidents we're seeing here in California. Uh, I attended the Office of Traffic Safety conference this past week, and having a room of law enforcement and hearing the challenges that they face with e-bikes, in many instances, many people don't know, but they are been tasked with the problems that they see with e-bikes, with all the injuries that they're seeing, some of the reckless behavior that's going with e-bikes and e-modos, yet they're told not to chase them. So they're saying, Well, how can we prevent a problem if we can't intervene? And if we intervene and something bad happens to a child, they're in trouble. And so they also see that sharp increase of unsafe ride behaviors, but at the same time, they're sort of looking for guidance in legislation and how do we make it safer for kids? Because, you know, when kids are riding on these bicycles at these high speeds, uh, they are not being told or educated on how to do it. So one of the things they do, and I you know, I applaud Sigrid where she's at at Orange County on Huntington Beach, the law enforcement has tried to intervene in a very positive way by having these modules and educational uh rodeos where they invite kids to know what an e-bike is. What's a class one, two, or three, you know, what is the safety equipment, what are the rules of the road, and they actually will take a test. And I think that's a great way of how law enforcement is intervening because yes, they can't chase the individuals, but they can make a big difference in those individuals who are purchasing a bike or thinking about doing it. The other aspect I thought was interesting was they have seen unfortunate deaths from either unfortunate kids who get injured from these bicycle injuries, or a bicyclist who runs into a individual. And they had we had two deaths uh in Southern California, and now they are telling parents if you had been warned about your child riding a bicycle and yet they persist and it leads to the injury or death of an individual, they are prosecuting those parents because they feel that these are not toys, these are motorized vehicles. And I think that's worth saying again, these are motorized vehicles, and if you have been told about the rules of the road and you've been told you're unsafe behavior, yet you continue to do that, that's considered a felony. And I think, you know, right now we're in this evolution of what was going to happen with some of these cases, but I think they're really trying to make a message to the public that e-bikes need to be regulated, we need to have safer rules, safer laws, and a way for us to change the culture. And I they said it so many times in that conference, we have to change the culture. These are not bicycles, these are motorized vehicles, and until we change that culture, we're going to consistently see all these injuries. And I really value their opinion and some of the things they shared with me at that conference. It was very powerful for me to see that.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 16:58

And thank you for sharing that on this podcast, because I think that information is probably not well known, and um many pediatric surgeons and other professionals would not be aware that um that is the point of view of law enforcement. And certainly there's a lot of opportunities there for us to partner and to educate and promote some of this information from law enforcement. Um as you were mentioning, um, sometimes we can just emphasize data and we repeat numbers in an echo chamber, and that's what um one of our goals of the podcast is to get out of that echo chamber, learn about what other groups in our um that have similar interests to us, which is keeping kids safe, and what they're doing, what they're saying, so that we can amplify the message.

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 17:54

Yeah, they play they play such a critical role because you know, instead of catching people in the act, what they're trying to do is just reinforce those behaviors, the ones that you talked about with helmet use and making sure there's not more than one passenger. If it's not appropriate for having more than one passenger, they're also, you know, they're engaging the community and they're having targeted enforcement. We're seeing that here in San, also here in San Diego. You know, you're having a bunch of rules, but there's no enforcement, and these things are going to be happening. So, but I do think one thing they're asking the legislation is for clear laws, community backing, and a way to enforce it where they're not necessarily being the bad guy, they're trying to provide a safe environment for children. And I the one thing they they told me, I asked them, like, well, why'd you invite me to come? They said, because we want to see what you guys are seeing, and if cops are seeing the injuries that children are getting, that means they're not doing their job. And so they want to do their job so that us doctors don't keep treating kids with these bad injuries.

National Safety Tools (CPSC, NEISS & Policies)

Dr. Joanne Baerg 18:55

Definitely. So here is another important point that our listeners may not be aware of, and you touched on it very early on when you mentioned that you had done some research with the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. So e-bikes are regulated under the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the injuries are reported to the NEISS or National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Policies which we all need to be safe, and which you stated law enforcement is also seeking. Policies are recommended based on collection of this data. So many of our listeners may not be aware that the CPSC and NEISS has existed since 1972, but these entities are undergoing significant defunding. Our colleagues in the AEP have been quite active in trying to put out statements to legislators that the CPSC must be maintained and must be supported. Either of you can answer this, but how critical do you think this injury surveillance system, and what else can we do to oppose the defunding?

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 20:04

The CPSC has traditionally been tasked with developing and enforcing product safety standards, helping facilitate recalls, and also responsible for educating consumers and businesses about potential hazards. And so, you know, uh the all of that is informed by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, right, that collects data on consumer product-related injuries throughout the US. And that data includes lots of things, including the number of injuries, right? This is one of the ways that we just saw this dramatic rise in e-bike injuries across the US, uh, looking at uh incidents of EV visits, hospitalizations, injury patterns, helmet use, age distribution, and many, many other variables. And so that data uh, again, that's collected from across the US is really crucial for informing all of us and the CPSC to help keep consumers aware and safe. And so with this uh you know proposed uh defunding um and potentially even elimination of CPSC, you know, where whose functions would then be absorbed into the Department of Health and Human Services, um, that that's gonna be uh really detrimental, I think, to uh consumers across the US, right? Because we're not gonna be able to understand what those injury trends are uh over time, um, who the high risk groups are, uh, and then use that information to make e-bikes uh safer uh for consumer use. And so I think um we're we're gonna have some significant struggles in terms of uh keeping e-bike riders safe if we lose this data collection system and enforcement.

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 21:46

As physicians, we are very data driven, right? So having these systems are is absolutely foundational. I mean, it's like Sigrid said, they're vital for us to making determinations. And when we're talking about even making policy. Policies like helmet recommendations and age limits and safety campaigns, we can't do that if we don't know the patterns through the surveillance data. And so I honestly think if when we see this, now we're seeing it right now, right? So when funding is cut, we're gonna lose the ability to see those early warning signals for emergency injury trends, right? We're gonna lose the ability to measure how policies are working. If we make a policy, is it making a difference in e-bike injuries? And so if we're making decisions on anecdotal data, that's gonna lead to a lot of confusion. So in practical terms, that means that if we want to catch these injuries early or at least prevent them, we need to recognize it. And I think we're already past that, right? We like I mentioned back in 2021 when we saw a few injuries, then it is now essentially a huge public issue among children. And so without the data, we can't really make any changes and stuff. So I I think it's important for individuals to understand that if we don't, if we can't measure these injuries, we can't prevent them, and such defunding of surveillance systems like the CPSC and you know the national, the NEN NESS, it puts us at risk for you know reacting too late. And so I think that you know Sigurd says it best, and it's very vital for us to have these systems.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 23:22

Yes, I agree 100%. I mean, we actually have been quite fortunate to have a very well developed uh injury surveillance like a canary in the coal mine, really, that's existed for injuries. It's functioned well since 1972. I would like our listeners and the public all to be uh aware that you know, if we're going to support something, I think for all of our safety and our children's safety, we need to support the NEISS. But pivoting over to a couple other topics that I wanted to talk with you both about, we talked about how you both work with the legislators in California. We've

SAFE Ride Act

Dr. Joanne Baerg 24:03

talked about some of the bills that have passed, some of the bills that have not passed. But a very important bill that is quite timely is the Safe Ride Act. And um, this is a federal bill. And I don't believe that it speaks so much to actual rules, but more to the aspects of public health and uh education. Would either of you like to comment on why the Safe Ride Act is important and how we can support it?

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 24:29

Yeah, the Safe Ride Act, which is also known as HR uh 5265, is an important, federally funded effort. It's by Representative Galtheimer from New Jersey, and it's currently being introduced in Congress, but I think it's being tabled and hopefully will be reintroduced for next year. I think at its core, um this bill is trying to do something that's being missed, which is creating a national framework for e-bike safety rather than the patchwork that state by state does. And so I think what it does is it focuses on three key areas. One, it gives funding and incentives, it allows for federal grants for states that implement strong e-bike safety programs, uh, things like we talked about helmet laws, enforcement, education, and so forth. Number two, it emphasizes education prevention and it mandates the development of national safety curricula, teaching riders, especially adolescents, young kids, about the safe use in helmet practices. And then it wants to also discuss about it, also emphasizes guidelines for implementation, data, and accountability, going back to again about using data to drive us to have better policies and to see if those policies work. So I think those are the areas that it emphasizes now. Unfortunately, it's it's being sort of tabled until next year, but I think this is one of the key steps from a federal standpoint for e-bikes, and realize, you know, five years ago no one talked about this, and now I think every state is talking about this. So I think this is the step in the right direction, and it's not trying to, you know, get into the granularity, but trying to support states who want to do e-bike safety and public awareness.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 26:18

Great explanation. Just a couple questions now as we're coming around to wrapping up our discussion. My first question is going to be focused on our colleagues. Um, so if our colleagues in pediatric surgery do not have a lot of time, but they were listening and they wanted to know what they can do to support e-bike advocacy. Um, can you give some suggestions of what you would like them to do?

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 26:44

Uh just a few things. When people are looking to educate themselves, I think there's some really good options available through both the Southern California ACS Advocacy website that has some uh spires that we utilize that provide information as well as links to the additional educational uh opportunities, including the California Highway Patrol e-bike education module that is available and free for everyone to use, that I think provides a really good outline of what e-bikes are and uh what the concerns are with them. You know, other other things to think about, you know, helmet use really for all of us is crucial, you know, uh both in the pediatric and adult population. Uh, and and just because they're not required for for adults, I think having adults model helmet use uh as safe uh e-bike use is is crucial for our kids to then follow in our example because we know that helmets certainly are protective and and and much more uh so even with the electric bicycles that are a higher speed uh in which we've seen a higher incidence uh of severe traumatic brain injuries. So I think it's yeah, just uh educating ourselves about uh e-bike safety and being able to relay that um in a reliable manner to our uh youth uh and parents that we take care of.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 28:10

That's great. And we will attach some of those resources to this podcast with links so our listeners can explore them a little bit more. What would be your take-home message, Dr. Ignacio, about e-bikes?

Dr. Romeo Ignacio 28:22

I think it depends on who's your audience. Um I think Sigrid had uh highlighted some of those key points. If you're talking to a parent, you know, I think that when I see parents in the trauma bay who see their child injured, I think the most common statement I hear is they just say, I didn't know. You know, they feel so guilty. They bought this bicycle they thought was just a bicycle, and now they see their kid with a head injury or a spine fracture or a spleen or a liver injury, and they feel unbelievably guilty, and they all say, I wish I knew. And so I I tell parents number one that e-bikes are not just bicycles, they are truly motorized vehicles. You know, you would not put your young child on a motorcycle, and these are getting to those speeds. Interestingly, you know, we talk about teenagers, but you know, for me, I the youngest age I've seen for e-bikes is four and five. And the industry has made e-bikes for that young age group, and I think everyone has this false sense when we say e-bicycle, they think it's just another toy, but these are not toys. And number two is that you would if you were there were someone on a motorized vehicle, you would want to make sure they're safe. So helmet every ride, making sure they're right, they're not only wearing appropriately, but depending upon the type of bicycle or e-bike, I'm sorry, you want to make sure you have the right helmet for like class three bikes that go up to 20 miles per hour. Wearing those other helmets are not gonna work. You have to wear one that has the ability to take that kinetic energy, one that protects the face and the jaw area. So it's almost a more it's basically a motorcycle helmet. And then two is to make sure that they know the rules of the road, that they're not riding distracted. And so that has to be a really serious discussion that parents need to have with their child. Unfortunately, that discussion is a little bit too late when they're in a trauma bay because although e-bikes offer the freedom and fun that kids want, we have to provide those safeguards because they carry serious risk. And our job is to make sure that families understand that these injuries can happen, and having those discussions after the fact doesn't work. On the flip side, though, if my audience is to pediatric surgeons and clinicians, you know, we are at the front lines of injury patterns, and we are a well-respected opinion within the community. And so when people are asking our advice, we should give them that advice that is balanced, right? If we are the type of surgeons that says we should ban all e-bikes, well, that discussion is going to be very short. But if I think we weigh the risk benefits, as well as providing that education, that prevention, then every counter is an opportunity to counsel families and push for safer practices and a voice for policy that reflects what we're seeing clinically. I think that's a good way to approach it. And these are things I honestly have learned from Secret over the past few years. And so I think it depends upon my audience. But that would be the take-home message uh that I would like for people to hear about.

Dr. Sigrid Burruss 31:35

Dr. Burruss? Yeah, I absolutely agree with what Romeo said. And you know, I think when we look at the bills too that have continued to make their way through committees, especially here in California, we we see that in terms of how they've engaged with all providers in healthcare, the industry as well, right? Um, because uh it really takes all of us to be able to reduce injuries. And so manufacturers, distributors, and sellers all need to be uh uh involved as well, um, because they they do have a very powerful lobby. And and so if they're not engaged, it's it's tough to get some of these bills through. Even if they will reduce uh injuries, it it's just gonna be tough to get it through committees. So when we look at say uh in California AB 2346 um that is uh uh um written to require e-bikes to have speedometers, to establish speed limits, make sure that those that are 16 and under arrive uh with speeds less than 15 miles an hour, or uh the bills from Senator Blakespear, uh SB 1167, that really just differentiates between legal e-bikes as defined by CPSC and those that are uh outside of those definitions. So they are not e-bikes, um, but e vopeds or e-motorcycles and should be regulated motor vehicles. Um, those, you know, I think are all, again, going to be very effective in reducing injuries uh and really allowing consumers to know what they're purchasing, right? Is this an e-bike or does this have um a motor wattage above 750 and is not an e-bike, and that needs to be clearly labeled because otherwise it's seen as false advertising by the manufacturer or seller, and that is a crime and they will be prosecuted for it. So I think it you know lots of ways to um address uh the problem and really allow consumers to have the information that they need when purchasing an e-bike and also allow providers the information needed to uh discuss these in the office, in the trauma bay, or or wherever else with uh parents and youth.

Dr. Joanne Baerg 33:45

Thank you, Dr. Ignacio and Dr. Burruss. I think we have uh a very informative podcast, and I want to thank both of you for giving your time to talk to me today. We will wrap it up here. This is Operation Advocacy. Thank you.

Speaker 2 33:59

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