A 14-year-old girl from Mays Landing suffered serious injuries Friday evening when the e-bike she was riding drifted from the shoulder into the eastbound travel lane of Route 40 and collided with a car near Walmart Drive in Hamilton Township. Rescue crews rushed her to a nearby shopping center parking lot so a medical helicopter could land and fly her to a hospital. The crash remains under investigation.
Hamilton Township police responded to the area of Walmart Drive on Route 40 at about 5:50 p.m. Friday, according to nj.com. Police said the teen had been riding her e-bike on the eastbound shoulder before moving into the travel lane, where she collided with a vehicle. The driver of that vehicle was identified by WFPG as Brian Portnoy, 65, of Egg Harbor Township, who was driving a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country eastbound on Route 40 near Walmart Drive at the time.
Rescue Crews Rush Teen to Makeshift Landing Zone
The Township of Hamilton Rescue Squad responded to the scene and transported the girl to the nearby Hamilton Mall parking lot, where a medical helicopter could land, the same station's report notes. The Cologne, Laureldale and Mays Landing volunteer fire departments also assisted at the scene, per nj.com's account.
Accounts differ on exactly where the girl was flown. WFPG reported she was airlifted via a New Jersey State Police medevac helicopter to the Atlantic City Medical Center – City Division, while nj.com reported she was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, Atlantic City campus. Either way, she arrived with serious injuries, and as of Saturday the crash remained under investigation, according to nj.com.
New E-Bike Rules Took Effect This Summer
The crash comes months after New Jersey's sweeping new e-bike law took effect, which nj.com reports requires riders to be at least 15 years old and licensed, and requires e-bikes to be registered with the state Motor Vehicle Commission. The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission confirms on its website that riders must be at least 15 and hold a valid license, that an e-bike must be registered with the commission, and that motorized bicycles require insurance before they can be registered. Separately, the New Jersey Department of Transportation states that anyone under 17 who rides a bicycle, rides as a passenger on one, or is towed as a passenger must wear a safety helmet.
Nj.com also noted that several teenagers in New Jersey have died in e-bike and e-moto crashes over the past year. In June, two New Jersey teens died in separate e-bike collisions just weeks before the new law took effect, the outlet reported, and that same report recalled a 12-year-old Princeton boy who died in April after the electric motorbike he was riding collided with a car, as well as a 9-year-old boy injured while riding an electric motorbike in Margate in May.
A Wider Pattern of Pediatric E-Bike Injuries
The Mays Landing crash lands amid a broader surge in e-bike-related injuries among children nationally. One health data company found a 7.5-fold increase in recent years in the rate of children visiting emergency rooms with e-bike and e-scooter injuries, according to NPR. At Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, e-bikes accounted for nearly 40% of pediatric incidents requiring a trauma-team response in 2023, and at Rady Children's Health Orange County, e-bike injuries surpassed falls and motor-vehicle collisions as the leading cause of pediatric emergency trauma visits in 2025, NPR reported. Several studies cited by the outlet have also found that e-bike riders are significantly more likely than traditional cyclists to suffer traumatic brain injuries in crashes.
Other recent incidents elsewhere in the region underscore the pattern. An 11-year-old girl was killed in late August after an electric dirt bike crashed into a truck in Berkeley Township, according to CBS Philadelphia, and the same station separately reported a teenager was left in critical condition after an e-bike crash in West Philadelphia in September. The Mays Landing case was first reported by CBS News, and as of Saturday, Hamilton Township police had not released further details on the girl's condition or the status of the investigation.
