The Canadian Institute for Health Information says e-scooter injuries are on the rise across the country.

It released data Thursday saying that hospitalizations involving e-scooters for kids between five and 17 years old increased by 61 per cent from 2022-23 to 2023-24.

The agency said hospitalizations for men between 18 and 64 went up by 22 per cent in that time period and went up by 60 per cent for women.

The data shows the majority of e-scooter hospitalizations happened in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia.

Dr. Daniel Rosenfield, a pediatric emergency physician at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, said the number of kids and teens arriving in the emergency department with e-scooter injuries has been increasing over the last five years and some have been “catastrophic,” including one 13-year-old boy’s death in 2023.

“We see anything from minor scrapes and cuts and little lacerations that need a couple of stitches to … traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding in the chest and abdomen, open fractures that need to go to the operating room to be fixed,” he said.

Some children between four and six years old have been hurt while riding with their parents on an e-scooter, Rosenfield said, but injuries among teens riding on their own is more common.

2:08
Youth injuries on e-bikes and scooters climb more than 200% in Toronto

Among cases where the information is available, 80 per cent of the riders who end up in the ER aren’t wearing helmets, he said.

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Rosenfield said he thinks the rise in injuries correlates to an increase in the popularity and affordability of e-scooters in recent years — together with a lack of understanding about how dangerous they can be.

“These scooters, much like everything electrified these days, have come down in price and have increased in power,” he said.

“Their acceleration and torque is tremendous. And most parents, when they’re buying these things for their kids, are completely unaware of that.”

2:06
Experts urge caution as number of e-scooter and e-bike injuries jumps

Pamela Fuselli, president and CEO of Parachute Canada — a charity focused on injury prevention — said the laws around e-scooters vary between provinces and even municipalities.

In Ontario, riders must be at least 16 years old. But in Toronto, e-scooters are not allowed on public roads or paths. And just east of the city in Oshawa, they’re permitted under a pilot program.

But people are clearly using them even where they’re not allowed, Fuselli said.

“Even while a city may have a bylaw about this, they can regulate what’s operated in public spaces, but then that has to be enforced. They can’t really regulate what’s sold,” she said.

5:55
Riding effortlessly into summer on e-scooters and e-bikes in Edmonton

Fuselli said kids under 16 should not be riding e-scooters — and parents shouldn’t be buying them for children younger than that.

“They look like toys, but they really are motor vehicles,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

&copy 2025 The Canadian Press

The outgoing head of Toronto’s transit agency is casting doubt over the tentative September opening date for the years-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

At a Toronto Transit Commission meeting Thursday, outgoing CEO Greg Percy said it would be “a reach” to open the new transit line by September.

“We’re looking still at this fall to get something happening,” he said in response to questions from Coun. Josh Matlow.

“I think September’s a reach but this fall is plausible and certainly by year-end. There’s lots and lots of stuff going on that we need to fix to open safely.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation said September remained the target for the project.

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“As our CEO Michael Lindsay has said, we are making major progress on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. All civil infrastructure for the project is now complete, operator driver training is now complete and in June we formally transferred operations of the line to the TTC’s command centre at Hillcrest,” Metrolinx said in a statement.

“We are currently relentlessly stress testing the system to ensure it is safe and reliable on the day it opens.”

The Eglinton Crosstown LRT has been without an opening date for years as it has encountered construction issues, software problems and legal battles involving the consortium building it.

Phil Verster, the former CEO of provincial transit agency Metrolinx, previously said the public would be given a three-month heads-up that the line was due to open.

“It’s an enormous stretch to have it open by September,” Toronto Coun. Dianne Saxe said on Thursday. “There are several testing phases that are meant to take place…. I haven’t seen any sign they’re within 90 days of being able to open and we haven’t got the notice they promised.”

It’s unclear if that is still Metrolinx’s plan. It has not been mentioned in recent statements. To meet September, it would need to have been made in June.

“As we have said, we are targeting September for substantial completion,” the agency said in its statement.

As recently as early June, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he believed the project was on track to open in September.

Roughly one month ago, the TTC took control of trains on the line as final tests stepped up towards opening day.

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Federal prosecutors have withdrawn terrorism allegations against a Yemeni man arrested in the Toronto area three months ago.

The case against Husam Taha Ali Al-Sewaiee was dropped at a court appearance on Thursday, his lawyer said in a statement.

The move came after the RCMP received new information that satisfied initial fears about the 33-year-old.

He still faces a threatening charge.

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Al-Sewaiee was initially arrested in Mississauga, Ont., on April 15 for uttering threats. Four days later, he was arrested again.

This time, the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team alleged he had attempted to leave Canada to join a terrorist organization.

He was not charged with terrorism. Instead, prosecutors asked the court for a terrorism peace bond that would restrict his movements in the name of public safety.

“Mr. Al-Sewaiee has always maintained this peace bond application was baseless and the allegations against him were entirely without merit,” his lawyer Rebecca Amoah said.

“Mr. Al-Sewaiee has been wrongly prosecuted, arrested, and detained. He has spent almost two months in custody, without being charged with any related criminal offence, pending the determination of a baseless peace bond application that the Crown has now withdrawn.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

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