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Trustees call for e-scooter safety education

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/08/17/trustees-call-for-...

SCHOOL trustees are calling on the province to bolster public education around e-bike and e-scooter safety ahead of back-to-school season.

The Manitoba School Boards Association brought members’ concerns about a growing number of students using electronic devices to get to and from classes to the education minister’s office this month.

“There’s a concerning lack of safety knowledge on the part of Manitoba youth,” executive director Alan Campbell said.

Campbell, a long-time trustee in the Interlake School Division, resigned from elected office this summer to run the association that mobilizes school boards and provides them with labour relations support.

While noting trustees are not curriculum developers, he said they make policies related to local transportation issues and have a responsibility to ensure health lessons, among others, are up to date.

Campbell said teaching students about the importance of wearing a helmet on e-scooters, using “prescribed bike lanes,” and following the Highway Traffic Act is critical for all community members’ safety.

Manitoba curriculum needs to be upgraded so all kids learn that riding an e-scooter on a sidewalk can put both them and pedestrians in danger, he noted.

New research on “powered personal micromobility devices,” undertaken by a group of Canadian pediatricians, shows at least 10 kids died from using an e-bike, e-scooter or related technology in 2025.

“Children may be at increased risk due to inexperience operating motorized vehicles, less caution/more risk-taking behaviour, and anatomic differences including skeletal immaturity and larger head size-to-body ratios,” states a summary of the findings.

Dr. Daniel Rosenfield was among the team who surveyed 800 colleagues across the country to find out the prevalence of these injuries and fatalities.

A total of 57 incidents involving e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards, e-unicycles, hoverboards and motorized mobility aids were reported.

Head injuries, accounting for nearly half of all cases, were the most common. Boys between the ages of 10 and 15 were the most likely to be injured.

The findings show there were 26 hospitalizations lasting over 48 hours and 12 admissions to intensive care units.

“Given recent trends, this is likely an underrepresentation of true cases,” Rosenfield said in a news release Thursday.

Although a summary did not break down incidents by province, it did acknowledge there were incident reports from Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

A government spokesperson said in a statement the Kinew government is taking seriously concerns raised by pediatricians and parents.

They described student safety as a “top priority” for Premier Wab Kinew’s team and indicated the province is actively looking for ways to increase awareness about “the safe use of e-bikes and e-scooters.”

Asked last week about when an updated health curriculum will be released, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said details will be released “shortly.”

Multiple transportation-related resolutions were brought forward at the school boards association’s annual general meeting in March.

Dozens of trustees voted to petition the province to “further emphasize bike safety and the safe use of power-assisted bicycles and e-scooters.”

Campbell said school leaders in urban areas and rural communities are concerned about unsafe operating habits on these increasingly popular devices.

“In 2026, public education is no longer about reading, writing and math, sitting in rows,” said the father of two and former school division transportation director.

Given school boards are grappling with high busing costs and interested in promoting healthy habits, such as walking to school, Campbell said trustees should be playing a bigger role in active transportation planning.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.camailto:maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca