Frontline surgeons are calling for better regulation around e-bikes, as injuries caused by the vehicles become more prominent in emergency rooms.
More than 500 e-bike riders have ended up in NSW emergency rooms in the last two years, with 16 per cent of patients attending St Vincent’s Hospital, in the Sydney CBD.
Over 50 per cent of incidents happened after 8pm.
Gig worker Tom, 21, was renting an e-bike to deliver food when he lost control at 30 kilometres an hour.
He was left with a ruptured spleen, internal bleeding and broken ribs.
“I lost control of the front wheel, then I flipped over my handlebar, and pushed my handlebar in the side of my belly and landed on my head,” Tom said.
“I think if I didn’t wear (a helmet) I would have a hole in my head. Wear a helmet…it saved my life in the end.”
Staff at St Vincent’s say the majority of cases are young males, with two-thirds injured while drunk and not wearing a helmet, a trend surgeons say the government needs to crack down on.
“E-bikes shouldn’t be the first option when you walk out of a pub,” Director of Trauma and Surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital, Anthony Grabs, said.
“Potentially limiting the use of the use of these bikes in the late hours when riders are potentially under the influence of alcohol and it’s harder to see riders at night,” Surgical Superintendent of Trauma Elan Novis said.
Surgeons are calling for better regulation from e-bike companies, local councils and the state government.
