Ten children died, and many more were injured in Canada last year as the result of crashes involving e-bikes and e-scooters, a startling statistic that’s prompting governments to take action.

The provincial government is seeking feedback from the public as it prepares to draft legislative amendments to the Highway Traffic Act to address the proliferation of the machines, many of which are virtually silent and can travel at high speeds.

Government Services Minister Mike Goosney says government’s aim is to make sure users, particularly young people, are safe.

“We really want to bring in some tools for the enforcement side to be able to enact, so that people are protected.”

Mount Pearl city councillor and MNL Vice President Isabelle Fry says it’s become a growing problem in many municipalities.

“Right now there are some shared-use trails…there are places to go, but this technology now, this is happening so fast, that we’re still trying to catch up in terms of regulations. On these shared-use trails we also have walkers and….when you have a bike that’s going pretty fast on the trail it can be scary. So it’s all a matter of trying to figure out where we are and what we’re going to do.”

Public feedback on proposed legislative changes is being accepted until Thursday, September 3.

Business Owner Says More Education is Needed

Mike Hall of Voltage Power Sports says everyone understands where the need for greater regulation is coming from.

He says while e-bikes and e-scooters are an economic and environmentally-friendly form of transportation, the “explosive” growth of the industry needs to be managed.

He’s already supplied his feedback to government on the issue.

He says education is key.

“As a dealer, we’re not going to police this. It’s not the RNC, or the RCMP’s position to police it, or government. I said, ‘it needs to start from home.’ And I said ‘I’m going to take you back when we were all young; if you did something and you were in trouble, what happened? Well, you got limits put in place by mom and dad.’ So, this is where I believe it needs to start.”)

He says previous attempts to discuss the issue with government appeared to go nowhere.

“I mean, this goes back four years when the Liberals were in power, and we reached out to the minister of the day, and I said, ‘listen, we need to talk about this,’ and nothing happened. So here we are four years later, and finally Minister Goosney is stepping up and saying ‘Mike, talk to us.'”