E-scooters caused over 1,500 injuries in the US just since late 2017

Consumer Reports recently put out a report that found since late 2017 until now electric scooters caused 1,542 injuries in the US. The data was collected from 110 hospitals and 5 agencies in 47 cities.

These were all cities where Bird or Lime, the leading tech-enabled scooter-sharing platforms operate.

UCLA study

This news comes a little after the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) also published a study which found that 249 people required medical care after accidents with the scooters. One third of those injured had to take an ambulance to the hospital.

Tarak Trivedi, an emergency doctor at UCLA, the lead author of the study said: “These injuries can be severe.These aren’t just minor cuts and scrapes. These are legit fractures.”

These reports may provide an incentive for those in the business of renting the e-scooters to show more concern about safety matters.

An accident example

Paul Grasso decided to rent a shared electric scooter through Lime, as he had many times before. He expected it to be a routine trip. As he was setting out Grasso noticed that there was construction ahead so he steered up onto the sidewalk to avoid it. However, as he did so the scooter hit a bump and he crashed head-first into the ground. He said "The whole unit just flipped forward and smashed my face into the cement walkway." Grasso was not wearing a helmet. Grasso, 50 years old, spent the next four days in the hospital recovering from his head injuries.

Despite contrary claims safety seems a low priority for e-scooter renters

Wearing a helmet is not required and not having one is the norm. Failed hardware in the scooters, access to the scooters even in the evening and irresponsible riding practices on the part of riders all are factors contributing to accidents. A tragic example of irresponsible riding happened recently in Austin Texas where a person riding a Lime scooter died when struck by an Uber driver. However, the person was driving the wrong way on an interstate. See this report.

Both Lime and Bird along with other leading providers do provide free helmets and don't encourage poor riding etiquette. Ensuring riders actually wear helmets or do stupid thinks such as the rider who died in Austin is impossible.

Previously published in Digital Journal;