On the couch with Jasminda

Dear Jasminda,

Kids on e-bikes are on the rise. How do we share the road safely with them?

Hayley S.

Dear Hayley,

Having recently observed two young girls powering across a T-intersection on their e-bikes without looking left or right, and after conversations with friends who have similar stories, the safety issue you raise is a real one.

Figures back up the stories with hospitalisations on the rise (94 young people – up from 60 the previous year – were treated at Sydney Children’s hospitals in 2025).

Not obeying basic road rules is dangerous enough, but when kids (sometimes without helmets) are simultaneously chatting and hooning along at 25km an hour, it’s a game changer.

I always imagined an e-bike was for people who were getting close to needing a knee replacement, but the e-bike is now ubiquitous with status.

Nothing quite says mum and dad are time-poor entrepreneurs too busy microdosing ayahuasca and holding Zoom conferences to spend time with their kids than an e-bike under the Christmas tree.

And in 10 years’ time, for every kid who ends up on the psychologist’s couch talking about their poverty-riven childhood: ‘It started the year Mum gave me a clapped-out, second-hand pushy she scored off Marketplace …’,  there will be another ruminating (perhaps from their wheelchair) on the lifelong injuries they sustained from their e-bike.

Or maybe they will be there to work through the guilt they feel following the injuries an elderly person sustained after they side-swiped them (though some of those mobility scooter riders are like Mad Max extras, so be on the lookout for them too).

Your question asks about the responsibility of motorists.

Being on the road is a shared responsibility, and you are right to seek out how to safely navigate the road with e-bikes. You should treat an e-bike rider the same way you would treat a traditional cyclist.

They wear the same protective gear as a traditional cyclist (bugger all), but their increased speed leads to an increase in the potential for damage.

As a responsible motorist, you should give them plenty of space, take particular care when overtaking, show them the same respect you would hope a motorist would show your own children, and drive defensively, because you can never tell what level of experience or common sense another road user has.

For my part, I’ll be sticking to my acoustic bike on designated bike paths where I will continue to channel my passive aggression at e-bike kiddies overtaking me by inwardly chanting, ‘Use your legs, you lazy silver-spooner,’ to get me up the hills.

Carpe diem, Jasminda.