One person was seriously injured when a school bus and an e-bike collided in west Columbus Tuesday afternoon, according to a city dispatcher, with the patient rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The crash closed out a day that already had Columbus drivers, cyclists and school officials on edge about e-bike safety on city streets.
According to 10TV, first responders were called around 4:45 p.m. to the 600 block of Wiltshire Road near Sullivant Avenue. The station reported that the injured person was transported to Grant Medical Center in critical condition, per the city dispatcher, but it remained unclear whether that person had been riding the e-bike or on board the school bus.
CW Columbus offered a different account of some details. That outlet reported the collision happened on Wiltshire Road near Whitehead Road at about 4:43 p.m., and identified the person taken to the hospital as an eBike rider, though it said the rider's condition was not immediately available. The discrepancies between the two reports — on the exact location, the timing, and the injured person's condition — have not been resolved, and 10TV's web staff said additional information was not immediately available as the story continued to develop.
A Pattern of Serious E-Bike Crashes in Columbus
Tuesday's crash is not the only recent case in which a Columbus e-bike rider has ended up in critical condition. Earlier this year, on Feb. 2, a cyclist riding an electric bike was seriously hurt in southwest Columbus after being struck by a car whose driver left the scene, according to FOX 28 Columbus. That cyclist was also transported to Grant Medical Center in critical condition, the station reported.
In a separate incident in the University District, Columbus police responded to a crash involving an e-bike and a car at East 17th Avenue and North 4th Street just before 10:30 a.m., as reported by ABC 6. The e-bike rider in that crash was rushed to The Ohio State Medical Center with serious injuries, and police described the rider as stable but still in very critical condition.
A Deadlier Outcome in Delaware
Outside Ohio, a similar type of crash turned fatal. In Dover, Delaware, a teenage boy was killed and another was injured after the two were riding an electric bike and crashed into the side of a school bus on a Friday afternoon, according to CBS News Philadelphia. That report noted the bus driver, 75 years old, was not injured in the collision, and neither were the 21 elementary school students riding on board.
No official police, fire, school-district, or hospital records have been made public confirming the specifics of Tuesday's west Columbus crash, and the cause of the collision has not been determined. 10TV said it plans to provide updates as the story develops.
