Charges laid in St. Albert electric dirt bike crash as e-mobility hospitalizations spike

A serious crash between an electric dirt bike and a vehicle in St. Albert is a prime example of the increase in injuries doctors are seeing, says an Edmonton emergency physician.

“The technology is rapidly evolving and these vehicles are getting faster and faster,” said Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti.

“The problem becomes not when they’re driving — it’s when they crash.”

The University of Alberta public health professor and emergency physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital said in the past week alone, he’s treated three injuries from electric scooters.

While e-scooters and e-bikes that can be rented from companies like Lime and Bird have their speed governed to around 20 km/h, more and more people are buying their own private ones that can reach higher speeds.

“These things can go up to 50 km/h. What ends up happening is the energy transfer quadruples. So a helmet is good, but a helmet doesn’t prevent a crash, right? A helmet may help prevent a brain injury.”

The human brain’s capacity for assessing risk does not finish developing until the age of 25, Francescutti said — noting that’s why car rental companies have an age limit — so kids and teenagers who hop onto electric scooters, bikes and motorcycles don’t fully understand the danger.

“It’s not that these kids are stupid. It’s just that they can’t access risk. That part the brain has not been formed properly,” Francescutti said.

Just north of Edmonton in St. Albert, a teenager was injured on Thursday while having that kind of fun.

The collision between an electric dirt bike and a Ford Bronco SUV occurred on Akins Drive, between Alpine Boulevard and Amherst Crescent.

RCMP arrived just before 2 p.m. to find a 16-year-old boy bleeding with injuries on his face, sitting next to a damaged electric dirt bike.

St. Albert RCMP Cpl. Curtis Harsulla said the Bronco also had significant damage.

“Judging by the damage done to the Bronco — which caved in both passenger doors, deployed the airbags and smashed out a window — it had to be going at a substantial speed,” Harsulla said.

RCMP said the Bronco was going south on Akins Drive when the driver observed a sudden flash, then heard and felt an impact.