Two 13-year-old boys from Bloomfield Hills are in critical condition after the e-moto style bike they were riding together was struck by a pickup truck while crossing southbound Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Township on Monday. The crash happened around 11:56 a.m. as the boys traveled westbound along the Hickory Grove Road safety path and entered the crosswalk at the six-lane arterial, according to Bloomfield Township police.
According to The Metro Detroit News, the teens were struck by a Ford F-250 driven by a 35-year-old Rochester Hills man who was heading south on Telegraph Road. Per WXYZ, one boy was taken to Trinity Health Oakland Hospital while the other was transported to Corewell Health William Beaumont Hospital; both remain listed in critical condition. The driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with investigators, WXYZ reports.
Bloomfield Township police believe the truck had a green light when the boys were struck, the station notes. Michigan traffic law under MCL 257.612 generally gives motor vehicles the right-of-way through an intersection when facing a green signal, while crosswalk users are required to obey pedestrian signals and yield to oncoming traffic that has the green light. Officers are talking to witnesses as they piece together exactly what happened in the moments before impact.
Specialized Crash Team Called to Reconstruct the Scene
The South Oakland County Crash Investigation Team, a multi-agency task force of crash reconstruction specialists drawn from neighboring departments, was deployed to assist Bloomfield Township police at the scene, per the same account. SOCCIT is routinely called in across Oakland County to reconstruct complex or critical-injury collisions, and its involvement here signals how seriously investigators are treating the case.
The intersection of Telegraph Road and Hickory Grove Road has a troubled recent history. In September 2025, a fatal multi-vehicle crash unfolded at the same intersection after an erratic driver collided with multiple vehicles and a box truck, killing a 70-year-old Detroit man and shutting down Telegraph Road for hours, as CBS News Detroit reported at the time. That crash was previously covered by Hoodline.
E-Bike or E-Moto? A Key Legal Question
Investigators have described the vehicle the boys were riding as an e-moto-style bike, a distinction that carries real legal weight in Michigan. Under Michigan Vehicle Code MCL 257.13e, electric two-wheelers that exceed 750 watts or 28 mph of motor assist, or that lack fully operable pedals, are classified as e-motos or motor vehicles rather than e-bikes, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. That classification subjects the devices to driver licensing and vehicle registration requirements that standard e-bikes do not carry, and the agency notes such high-powered machines are frequently marketed to young riders despite being legally categorized as off-road or motor vehicles.
Separately, Michigan Vehicle Code MCL 257.662a bars anyone under 14 from operating Class 3 e-bikes, which can reach motor-assisted speeds of up to 28 mph, and requires helmet use for riders under 18 on those models, per the Michigan Legislature. The state imposes no such statewide age floor or helmet mandate for slower Class 1 or Class 2 e-bikes. It remains unclear how the bike the two 13-year-olds were riding is ultimately classified under state law.
Feeder Streets Under Scrutiny as Traffic Diverts Off Telegraph
Bloomfield Township public safety officials flagged a related concern back in June, noting that GPS navigation apps are diverting heavy volumes of traffic onto residential feeder streets like Hickory Grove Road, according to the Bloomfield Township Police Department. Officials said the apps push thousands of vehicles daily off Telegraph Road and into suburban subdivisions, heightening collision risks for pedestrians and local youth on bikes navigating those same routes toward the busy arterial.
The township has been working to expand non-motorized infrastructure along these corridors. In August, Bloomfield Township awarded a $1.7 million contract to build a safety path on Quarton Road connecting Telegraph Road to Woodward Avenue, part of a broader push to link safety paths across the township's busiest intersections, as Hoodline reported in $1.7M Deal Links Telegraph to Woodward. Telegraph Road itself has seen other fatal crashes this year, including one in Brownstown Township last month.
A National Surge in Youth E-Bike Injuries
Monday's crash lands amid a documented nationwide rise in micromobility casualties among children. A 2026 report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that national micromobility fatalities climbed to 135 in 2024, with children under 15 accounting for more than a third of all e-bike and e-scooter emergency injuries recorded nationwide. The same report found that motor vehicle collisions account for over half of all fatal e-bike incidents in federal records.
Pediatric trauma centers have also sounded the alarm. Cook Children's Health Care System reported a 500 percent increase in serious e-bike injury admissions during the first half of 2026 compared to all of 2025, with medical directors pointing to high speeds and a lack of traffic education among young riders as primary factors. Trauma physicians there have emphasized that the higher speeds e-bikes reach cause significantly more severe injuries than traditional pedal bicycles produce.
Bloomfield Township police have not released further updates on the boys' conditions or the status of their investigation. The crash remains under review as SOCCIT completes its reconstruction of the scene.
