Gold Coast dad Jason Gagg advocates for Huddo’s Law after son’s e-bike death
Every parent’s worst nightmare became reality for Jason Gagg when his son Hudson died in an e-bike crash. Now, he’s determined to make sure no other family has to experience this unimaginable grief.
Jason Gagg doesn’t want his son’s death to be for nothing.
On September 22, 17-year-old Hudson Gagg died in an e-bike crash on the southern Gold Coast.
His death left his loved ones heartbroken and a community horrified as a young life was taken far too soon at the hands of the e-mobility crisis, which continues to spiral out of control across Queensland.
“It’s the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about at night,” Mr Gagg said.
“Losing a child is absolutely heartbreaking.
“It is the worst pain I have ever felt and nobody understands your pain unless they’ve gone through it.
“I’d hate for anyone to go through what we’re going through.”
But within this grief, a fire has been lit inside Mr Gagg to make a change and make sure no other family has to experience this unbearable pain.
That change is Huddo’s Law.
Mr Gagg is calling for urgent e-mobility safety reforms to be pushed through parliament before Christmas including stricter laws on helmets, tougher age restrictions and more education.
He is desperately urging Federal Transport Minister Catherine King to reclassify e-bikes as motor vehicles in the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018, as well as introducing a national database for the devices.
In recent months, three young people, including Hudson, have lost their lives in e-mobility accidents in Queensland and dozens more rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
Fudou Stovell, 15, died in an electric dirt bike crash at Broadbeach in October.
Just three days earlier, eight-year-old Zeke Hondow died in an e-bike crash on the Sunshine Coast.A 15-year-old was charged this week over the crash.
“The state government need to act quickly,” Mr Gagg said.
“They need to be smart, swift and get this information out there before Christmas so we can try and curb this increase of accidents and trauma — it’s rising too fast.”
It had been a typical day for Mr Gagg. After work, he’d gone into the garage to tinker on a project.
His wife, Gillian, received a call saying Hudson’s best mate Jydon had collided with a car at Fenton Drive in Tallebudgera about 4pm.
“Gillian said ‘Come with me, we’ve got to’,” Mr Gagg said.
“Hudson’s bike was in the shed so we were wondering where he was.
“As we were driving there, we were ringing him and he wasn’t answering his phone.
“We thought it was just typical Hudson with his phone off.”
The pair arrived just as emergency services were blocking off the road.
What they didn’t expect to be confronted with was paramedics working desperately to revive their son.
“I saw Jydon lying on the side of the road and then I saw the blue tarp with Hudson’s head behind it,” Mr Gagg said.
Jydon had been riding a new Fatboy Scambler e-bike with Hudson sitting on the back as a passenger.
Three days before the horror crash, the bike’s brakes had been serviced.
As the pair rode down the Fenton Drive hill, Jydon was squeezing the brakes but the bike wasn’t stopping, Mr Gagg said.
They ran through a stop sign at the Tallebudgera Creek Rd intersection and collided with a Mitsubishi Outlander.
Paramedics worked for 40 minutes to try and revive Hudson, all while his family stood atop the hill and watched.
“They were fighting hard, they were working hard to save him.
“The paramedics came over beforehand and told us there was a 90 per cent chance he wasn’t going to make it.”
Mrs Gagg made eye contact twice with an emergency service worker who was holding up the blue tarp and that’s when they realised their precious boy was gone.
Jydon suffered serious leg and facial injuries and was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital.
He broke his pelvis in two spots and underwent a five-hour surgery for internal bleeding plus further surgeries on his ankle and knee.
The Mitsubishi driver, a 65-year-old Robina man, was treated for shock and emotional distress and also taken to hospital.
Mr Gagg said his family thinks about the driver every day.
“We don’t want him to think we’ve forgotten him, we are thinking of him but it’s an active investigation so we can’t contact him,” Mr Gagg said.
“He was just going about his daily business and the boys couldn’t stop and they collided.
“It was a very unfortunate point in time.”
Despite the rawness of his grief, Mr Gagg is determined to not let another family experience this unimaginable loss.
He is calling for Queensland Premier David Crisafulli to act now and fast-track e-mobility safety reforms.
A parliamentary inquiry is currently being held into e-mobility across Queensland but its report is not expected to be handed down before March next year.
“I understand they want to get it right first time and I have no issues with that but they have to work quicker,” Mr Gagg said.
“Come Christmas, kids will be wrapping these e-bikes as presents.”
In Queensland, a legal e-bike has a maximum continuous power output of 250 watts and must be pedal powered with motor assistance that cuts out at 25km/h.
Those riding electric scooters and skateboards must be aged 16 or older, or 12 to 15-years-old with adult supervision but there are no age restrictions for e-bikes.
Mr Gagg would like to see these age limits implemented for e-bike riders.
“They are a great way of commuting, they are brilliant if they’re used correctly,” Mr Gagg said.
“It’s a massive industry and it’s not going anywhere at all.
“Rather than fight it, we need to come up with a solution.”
Hudson wasn’t wearing a helmet when the e-bike crashed but paramedics have told his father even that wouldn’t have saved his life due to the injuries he sustained to the lower back of his head and neck.
Mr Gagg said it should be mandatory for e-bike riders to wear a helmet that covers the entire back of their heads, similar to what a skateboarder wears.
“This is where I’d like to see Huddo’s Law introduced,” he said.
“E-bikes and e-scooters can be altered to go faster than the legislated 25km/h limit so there needs to be stricter helmet laws.”
In 2021, e-bikes were removed by the federal government from the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018, meaning they were no longer classed as motor vehicles.
In a letter to Ms King earlier this year, cycling advocacy group We Ride said this decision led to a “significant deterioration” in rider’s safety and non-compliant e-bikes being easily imported into Australia.
Mr Gagg said these devices must be reclassified as motor vehicles to ensure they meet Australian safety standards.
“We need to put it back into the Federal Minister’s hands,” he said.
“They should have a national database register of every e-mobility device that comes into Australia and who has purchased it that can be accessed by each state, territory and police.”
This could also include a small registration fee for a small plate so the device is easily identifiable, Mr Gagg said.
He wants more education programs in schools and a curfew for children aged 16 and under to not be riding these devices between sunset and sunrise.
“We’re reading that a lot of these kids are out on e-scooters and e-bikes at ridiculous hours at night,” he said.
“What are they doing?
“There should be a curfew in place to keep them safe and off the roads.
“These kids don’t understand the road rules so education should be in every single school.
“Not just ‘This is what you can ride and this is what you can’t ride’, it needs to be about the road rules as well.
“Another thing that isn’t available is for the innocent people who have been hurt.
“Who is supporting them? Not only financially, but emotionally.
“These riders don’t have insurance on these devices, particularly if they are underaged.
“At some point, someone has to be responsible.
“If you run into somebody and they’ve been injured, they’re off work or whatever else, there needs to be support there.
“That’s when if there is no insurance, where does that compensation come from?”
Mr Gagg recently met with Currumbin MP Laura Gerber and Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate to discuss these possible reforms.
Mr Tate has called on Mr Crisafulli multiple times in recent months to “forget the inquiry” and urgently pass new laws to crackdown on e-bikes.
State Minister for Transport and Main Roads Brent Mickelberg said: “Tragedies like these are exactly why we established this comprehensive inquiry.”
“We are determined to get the response to this complex challenge right, which is why our inquiry is carefully considering all the research and consulting widely to ensure a safe and reliable future for e-mobility devices in Queensland.
“The Crisafulli Government funds several high-school road-safety education programs that include e-mobility segments.
“We also provide one-off grants yearly to support locally led e-mobility road safety education initiatives and are developing e-mobility lesson plans for high schools.”
Mr Gagg said Hudson would be “rapt” to know his dad was speaking up and trying to make his community a safer place.
“To think that he has pushed me to make the change, he would be rapt and be honoured,” he said.
“We need people to understand they could have a serious injury, if not a fatality, riding these things.
“I want to see changes. Get it done, sooner rather than later.”
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Originally published as Gold Coast dad Jason Gagg advocates for Huddo’s Law after son’s e-bike death
