LISBON, PORTUGAL - NOVEMBER 23: Tourists ride Jump-Uber e-scooters near Porta de Furadouro on ... [+]
Here’s a New Year’s Day scene I witnessed recently in downtown Denver: four young adults zipping down a wet and icy 15th Street amidst traffic on borrowed Lime electric scooters; none of them wore helmets and one talked loudly to another about still being buzzed from the previous evening’s imbibing.
It made me understand for a moment why some cities are considering banning shared e-scooters offered by the likes of Lime, Bird and Uber.
Now a new study confirms that the widely available scooters (they can be borrowed in over 100 US cities at last check) might really be as dangerous as they sometimes seem.
Almost 3,300 patients were admitted to US hospitals with scooter-related injuries between 2014 and 2018, a 365 percent increase. Total scooter injuries in that same time period totaled over 39,000, a 222 percent jump.
Obviously, the increase in accidents coincides with a boom in scooter sharing adoption and popularity, but researchers from the University of California - San Francisco who compiled the report published in JAMA Surgery say the numbers are concerning.
"There was a high proportion of people with head injuries, which can be very dangerous," said co-author Benjamin N. Breyer, MD, a UCSF Health urologist Breyer. "Altogether, the near doubling of e-scooter trauma from 2017 to 2018 indicates that there should be better rider safety measures and regulation."
The team also looked at bicycle injury data and found that scooter riders suffer a higher proportion of head injuries.
Electric scooters seen in Los Angeles, California on January 29, 2019. Emergency rooms have recently ... [+]
Fractures were the most common injuries seen in scooter accidents, followed by contusions and abrasions.
The authors also worry that the actual rate of scooter injuries may be under-reported because not all scooter types were included in the study and many people may not go to the hospital when injured.
While a number of cities consider how to move forward with scooters on their streets, the advice for individual riders is simple:
"It's been shown that helmet use is associated with a lower risk of head injury," said first author Nikan K. Namiri, medical student at the UCSF School of Medicine. "We strongly believe that helmets should be worn, and e-scooter manufacturers should encourage helmet use by making them more easily accessible."
