Rapidly Increasing Rate of E-Scooter Injuries
Although injuries from a motorcycle or car accident may be worse, even a minor injury is no blessing. It should be dealt with the same seriousness as any other injury. Recent studies have shown startling results that e-scooter injuries have exceeded the number of damages caused by motorcycles, bicycles, and even cars. It is difficult to accept since e-scooters, while a gift to the environment, was no gift to humankind considering the significant rate of injuries experienced while operating them. According to personal injury attorney Nicholas Stamatis of Price Benowitz Accident Injury Lawyers, LLP, “Millions of people are using e-scooters in today’s day and age, and thus it has been even more significant to make people aware of their effect on public health. The mere fact that the number of e-scooter injuries is nearly as much as the number of motorcycle injuries is cause for concern, and steps should be taken to reduce these numbers”.
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The Alarming Surge in E-Scooter Injuries
Reports from Studies Conducted
Studies compared the number of injuries per million trips of motorcycles and e-scooters. Notably, the number of injuries from e-scooter surpassed the number of injuries from motorcycles by 11 for every million visits. It was further calculated and approximated that for every million e-scooters, cars, and walk trips, the number of e-scooter injuries was recorded as 15, 8, and 2, respectively. These studies depict how the number of injuries from e-scooters has been increasing and show a good contrast as to how these numbers compare with injuries caused by other forms of traveling devices such as motorcycles and cars. The medical and healthcare department will likely see a lot more of these injuries shortly, considering the easy access to shared e-scooters these days.
Injuries Caused By E-Scooter Operations
This study in LA drew data from 1,354 patients from the UCLA clinics, emergency, and urgent care centers over nearly four and a half months, including results from both before and after shared scooters, were introduced. Most of the injuries suffered through e-scooters were noted to be head trauma or broken bones. Around 533 people had suffered an injury in more than one part of the body, while 72 patients were admitted, and 21 were sent to the critical care unit. It makes one doubt hearing about the critical care unit cases, but it is also noteworthy that this was not even half of it. Two people even died from e-scooter injuries. The patients included riders of these scooters and pedestrians who either crashed into a moving scooter or others who had tripped over parked ones.
Underestimated Impact of E-scooters
More than 33 percent of sufferers required more than a single visit to the clinic to treat their injuries, which explains just how serious injuries from e-scooters can be. However, this may have been underestimated for quite some time since studies only looked at emergency visits earlier and did not consider separate visits. It was noted that injuries skyrocketed after shared devices were introduced. While previously, the number used to be merely 13 injuries annually, after the introduction of shared e-scooters, the number rose to 595 and 692 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. This data was also only taken from the UCLA health department, and other health facilities were not considered during the study, suggesting that the number of injuries in the region may be even higher.
