An appeal to parents: a letter from a mother whose 13-year-old son was seriously injured in an electric bicycle accident
The mother, whose son is sedated and on a ventilator in the hospital following a serious accident, warned parents: "In our home, electric bicycles were strictly forbidden, but social pressure won in a single moment. There is not enough enforcement and we cannot be there every second."
A mother of a 13-year-old boy who was seriously injured in a traffic accident while riding an electric bicycle and being hit by a car, issued an appeal today (Sunday) to all parents, demanding to stop the dangerous phenomenon and unite to protect the children.
The mother said that in their home there is a total ban on the use of any electric vehicles. The parents explained the dangers to the child again and again, clarified how dangerous it is to take them on the road, and he even knew that the law prohibits riding at his age.
Despite this, the reality on the ground prevailed: many of the boy's friends have electric bicycles and scooters that their parents bought for them. When the child goes outside and is surrounded by friends who are riding, the desire to belong, the social pressure, and the feeling that "everyone is doing it" led him to take a vehicle from a friend and get on it in a single moment when his parents were not by his side.
As a result of the impact, the boy is hospitalized while sedated and on a ventilator. He suffers from multiple facial fractures, his nasal bones are shattered, and there is a complex fracture of the eye socket and a fracture of the base of the skull.
The boy underwent hours of complex surgeries during which three plates and screws were inserted into his face, which will remain in his body for the rest of his life, alongside the stitching of the wounds on his face. In addition, he broke both legs, with one of them requiring an additional surgery in which plates and screws were implanted.
Call to parents: "Let's do this together"
The mother emphasized that she is not writing to preach or blame, but out of an acute fear of the number of children and teenagers who risk their lives every day on electric vehicles. According to her, there is not enough enforcement and parents cannot be by their children's side at every moment, and therefore a joint parental mobilization is required.
"If we all decide together that children at this age do not ride electric vehicles, it will be much easier for our children to accept this limit. They won't have to be the only child who is forbidden, while all the friends around them are riding. Don't wait for your child to lie in a hospital for this danger to become tangible. Today it is my child, tomorrow it could be another child."
