BATON ROUGE — The increased popularity of electric bikes and scooters is raising concerns from doctors.

The American College of Surgeons says injuries are surging, particularly among children and teens.

It's a popular way to get around; electric scooters and bikes can get you where you're going fast, but doctors warn that the rising number of them on the road is causing another kind of surge.

We get our trauma alerts, uh, a lot of times I'm thinking, OK, is it another e-bike or e-scooter injury, cause they've become more and more common," Pediatric Trauma Surgeon Dr. Marc Levy said.

Dr. Marc Levy says his hospital alone has seen a 250% increase in emergency room visits from e-bike and e-scooter accidents, but the American College of Surgeons says it's a problem nationwide, with more than 20,000 people hurt while riding electric bikes every year, about 3,000 of those requiring hospitalization.

“E-scooters and e-bikes can attain speeds as high as 20 to 30 MPH. Some e-bikes can go as fast as 50 MPH," Dr. Levy said.

Levy says head injuries are the most common, but there have also been deaths. He says many times riders he sees in the ER either didn't have a helmet or weren't wearing the right one. As speeds increase, Levy says a stronger helmet with a higher rating is needed for protection.

“This helmet is rated a 3, level 3 helmet, which would be up to 28 MPH, and you can see it has a kind of a full shell around it that protects the head. It's also harder than the other one and is better for these higher rates of speed," he said.