A 17-year-old boy is fighting for his life after an electric scooter he was riding collided with a car early Thursday on Nalle Grade Road in North Fort Myers, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The crash happened at about 5:46 a.m., leaving the teen with critical injuries.
It marks the second scooter-involved crash in Lee County within just a week, according to The News-Press. The first crash, which happened on Nov. 5, was fatal.
That earlier wreck claimed the life of a 22-year-old Fort Myers man whose electric scooter collided with a minivan on Daniels Parkway near Brookshire Lake Boulevard. The outlet reported that the man had been attempting to travel south across the westbound lanes of Daniels Parkway when the minivan struck his scooter.
Florida law gives motorized-scooter and micromobility riders the same general rights and duties as bicyclists, while allowing local governments to regulate their use on streets, highways and sidewalks. The state does not require scooter operators to have a driver’s license, and the devices are exempt from vehicle registration and insurance requirements; local governments may set minimum operating ages. Florida’s 2026 statute spells out those rules.
A Grim Tally on Lee County Roads
The back-to-back crashes land against a troubling backdrop. By the time of its Nov. 5 report on the Daniels Parkway death, the same outlet's reporting noted the man was one of at least 49 fatalities on Lee County roads so far this year.
The Lee County crashes come amid a wider safety concern: the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission identified 206 e-scooter-related deaths nationwide from 2017 through 2024. The agency said motor-vehicle crashes and loss-of-control incidents were the leading hazards associated with those deaths, while cautioning that recent fatality counts may change as death reports arrive. The commission’s latest micromobility review also tracks injuries involving e-bikes and self-balancing scooters.
Thursday's crash on Nalle Grade Road has not been accompanied by additional details about the driver involved or the exact circumstances leading up to the collision. No further information about the teen's identity or condition beyond the critical-injury designation from FHP has been released.
North Fort Myers Has Seen Scooter Tragedies Before
This is not the first time scooter riders have been hurt or killed on North Fort Myers roads. In October 2023, a 73-year-old North Fort Myers man riding a mobility scooter died after a motorcycle struck him, with that crash happening around 5:45 p.m. on a Monday along Hancock Bridge Parkway near Palm Avenue.
And in October 2021, a 5-year-old girl riding a scooter near Castleview Drive and Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers died after being struck by an SUV. She had entered the roadway around 4:55 p.m. on a Saturday, according to a report at the time.
Together, the incidents underscore a recurring danger for scooter riders of all ages across Lee County roadways, even as investigators have not tied Thursday's crash to any of the earlier cases.
