An 18-year-old e-scooter rider dies in Kamloops crash as helmet use remains dangerously low

An 18-year-old died in an e-scooter crash near Battle Street and Lee Road in Kamloops on Sunday, August 16, after police found no helmet at the scene.

Kamloops RCMP said the rider suffered critical injuries and was pronounced dead at Kamloops General Hospital around 6 a.m. The crash involved no other vehicles.

The death underscores a pattern of preventable injuries across B.C. An interim report from the province's four-year e-scooter pilot project — running until April 2028 and involving multiple municipalities including Kamloops — found that 85 per cent of injured riders at Kelowna General Hospital were not wearing helmets. B.C. Children's Hospital recorded 81 e-scooter emergency-room visits in 2025-26, more than double the 37 visits the year before. Nearly 60 per cent of injured riders had been travelling above the 25 kilometre-an-hour speed limit.

Dr. Shelina Babul, director of the injury research and prevention unit at B.C. Children's Hospital, noted that e-scooters handle differently than bicycles: riders stand upright with a higher centre of gravity, and smaller wheels are more vulnerable to cracks and debris in the road.

As HOC reported in July, a woman died after an e-scooter crash on Commercial Drive in Vancouver on July 3. A week later, a woman's family pleaded publicly for helmet use after another Vancouver collision.

In response to the risk, Burnaby recently amended its bylaws to ban e-scooters from major and arterial roads, parks and sidewalks, restricting them to protected bike lanes, multi-use pathways and local roads. Riders are also now forbidden from wearing headphones.

The province has not disclosed total injury or death counts from the pilot project to date.