A 13-year-old boy riding an e-scooter to school in Leawood on Aug. 17 was struck by an SUV near 143rd Street and Mission Road. He survived, released from the hospital the same day.

"Fortunately, the boy was wearing a helmet and was alert and talking when the first officer arrived," Leawood Police Chief Brad Robbins said. Leawood's ordinance required the boy to wear that helmet.

Last October, 10-year-old Duke Ommert wasn't as fortunate. Duke died after a car hit him as he crossed mid-block near 103rd Street and Lee Boulevard in northern Leawood. He was wearing a helmet, too, but the impact killed him.

Duke's death, combined with what the Johnson County Post reported as a nearly 300% increase in e-scooter and e-bike emergency room visits nationally from 2017 to 2024, has pushed Johnson County cities to act where the Kansas Legislature has not.

Statewide bill stalls

Duke's parents, Ryan and Monica Ommert, pushed for HB 2459, known as Duke's Law, which would have restricted e-scooter operation to riders 14 and older and imposed weight and speed limits. The bill never received a committee hearing in the last legislative session.

State Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, the Democrat who represents the Ommerts, said "weak whispers of 'local control'" defeated the bill.

Kansas has no statewide helmet, licensing or registration requirement for e-scooters or e-bikes. They're classified the same as regular bicycles.

The Ommerts said they plan to reintroduce Duke's Law in the next legislative session.

Local ordinances fill the gap

Leawood and at least five other Johnson County cities have passed ordinances requiring minors to wear helmets while operating electric or motorized bikes, scooters and similar devices. Leawood's City Council approved its version in February, covering riders 18 and under. Olathe, Overland Park, Prairie Village and Shawnee have also adopted helmet requirements for young riders.

Overland Park's rules go further. The city requires helmets for anyone under 18, caps e-scooter speeds at 15 mph, prohibits e-scooters on streets with speed limits of 20 mph or higher and bans children under 16 from riding high-speed e-bikes. The city also placed 160 signs near schools, trails and busy areas as part of a back-to-school safety campaign using memes and slang aimed at young riders, according to KSHB.

Meg Ralph, Overland Park's strategic communications director, said the city tried to speak kids' language with the campaign, "'meme-ifying' it" and "'Gen Alpha-ifying' it" to reach young riders.

County-wide model policy expected this month

The patchwork concerns health officials. Riders can cross invisible city boundaries and unknowingly violate different rules.

The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment said a unified model policy for e-bike and e-scooter regulations will be available by the end of August. BikeWalkKC and other safety advocates have been pushing for the unified approach since at least July.

The scope of the problem

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 698,500 emergency department visits tied to micromobility products from 2017 through 2024, including 380,000 for e-scooters and 155,200 for e-bikes. The agency documented 533 fatalities over the same period. Only 18% of injured e-scooter riders were wearing a helmet at the time.

In Leawood, police say young riders are part of the challenge. "A lot of what we're seeing are young riders that don't know the rules of the road," Sgt. Matthew Schroeder said in a department podcast.

Leawood Ward 1 Councilmember Alan Sunkel said after the Aug. 17 crash that the city will address additional safety rules for electric vehicles, calling it "a problem for the riders" and "a problem for the drivers."

Leawood's Safe Streets initiative is studying all city streets, with an update planned at a public open house on Tuesday, Sept. 1.