Waipahu E-Bike Crash Leaves 6-Year-Old With Serious Head Injury, No Helmets Worn

A man and a 6-year-old boy are recovering after the e-bike they were riding together crashed in Waipahu, leaving the child with a serious head injury. Emergency responders say neither rider was wearing a helmet when the e-bike lost control and struck the roadway near Akoki Street and Pakaiea Street.

According to Hawaii News Now, emergency medical services responded to the crash site in Waipahu and treated both the boy and a second patient, an adult man who sustained an arm injury. The 6-year-old suffered a serious head injury, per EMS, and crews continued treatment on both patients en route to the emergency room. The outlet reported that the pair had been riding together on a single e-bike when the crash occurred.

The crash site sits within Waipahu's Royal Kunia neighborhood, an area covered by Honolulu Police Department District 3 out of the Pearl City station and part of a densely populated central Oahu community of roughly 43,500 residents, according to prior Hoodline reporting on the area.

What Hawaii Law Says About Passengers and Helmets

Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 291C-143, carrying a passenger on a bicycle or e-bike is illegal unless the vehicle has a permanent seat built for more than one rider, according to the County of Kauai Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. Most standard e-bikes are built to carry only one rider unless they are manufactured specifically as cargo or passenger models. It remains unknown whether the e-bike involved in the Waipahu crash was legally equipped to carry a second rider.

Helmet rules also changed recently in Hawaii. Governor Josh Green signed Act 259 into law in July, raising the mandatory helmet age from under 16 to under 18 for all e-bike operators and passengers, and formally defining Class 1 through Class 3 e-bikes while banning high-speed electric devices exceeding 750 watts or 28 mph from public roads, per the Hawaii Department of Transportation. That means the 6-year-old boy in this crash was well within the age range now legally required to wear a helmet.

A Statewide Surge in Pediatric E-Bike Trauma

The Waipahu crash lands amid a sharp rise in e-bike injuries across Oahu. Honolulu EMS data shows e-bike-related injuries jumped from 110 in 2023 to 181 in 2025, with 71 more recorded through mid-May of this year, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat report cited by KHON2. Roughly one-third of 2025 injuries involved minors under 18, and more than half involved riders without helmets.

Statewide, Hawaii Department of Health records document 816 reported e-bike injuries between January 2022 and March 2026, the vast majority on Oahu, with 13-year-olds making up the single largest injured age group. Medical experts at Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women & Children reported that by the second quarter of 2024, e-bike crashes had become the most common cause of pediatric trauma injuries at the center, with children as young as 3 to 6 frequently treated after riding as passengers with adults, according to Hawaiʻi Pacific Health. Trauma specialists there have emphasized that young passengers face high risks of severe traumatic brain injuries and internal organ damage during falls.

The dangers aren't hypothetical for central Oahu families. In March 2025, a 7-year-old girl died from injuries sustained in an e-bike crash in neighboring ʻEwa Beach, a case that helped accelerate calls from lawmakers and paramedics for tougher safety rules. The Hawaii Department of Transportation has separately found that wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injury by 69% and the risk of death by 42% in bicycle and traffic crashes, figures the agency released after statewide traffic deaths hit an 18-year high.

Lawmakers and the City Council Have Moved to Tighten Rules

Beyond Act 259, the Honolulu City Council passed Bill 41, also known as Ordinance 26-21, on August 12 to align municipal traffic codes with the updated state statutes under HRS § 291C-143 and § 291C-143.5, according to the City and County of Honolulu. The ordinance updates rules governing e-bike operation on municipal streets and public bicycle paths.

Hawaii also requires every e-bike operated on public roads to be registered with the county Director of Finance for a permanent $30 fee under HRS § 249-14, making it one of only two states in the country with mandatory e-bike registration, per Ebike Oracle. The metallic tags are meant to help law enforcement confirm ownership and verify that devices meet legal speed and power limits. It is not yet known whether police will pursue citations tied to the Waipahu crash, including questions over whether the e-bike met Class 1-3 power limits or was legally equipped to carry a passenger.