E-Scooter and E-Bike Crashes Are Skyrocketing in the US

As the popularity of electrical scooters and bikes has soared successful caller years, researchers successful California person recovered that the fig of injuries connected to their usage has besides increased.

Part of the emergence successful injuries could beryllium owed to conscionable however fashionable these electrical vehicles, besides known arsenic micromobility vehicles, person gotten; their usage grew 50-fold successful the past decade, according to a caller study published by University of California San Francisco researchers successful the diary JAMA Open Network. However, their riders are much apt to prosecute successful risky behaviors, similar riding portion intoxicated oregon without a helmet, compared to those utilizing accepted vehicles (i.e. regular bikes and scooters). They were besides much apt to usage them successful densely trafficked municipality areas.

The caller survey examined the fig of injuries involving riders of e-bikes and e-scooters betwixt 2017 and 2022 and compared those to the injuries suffered connected their much accepted counterparts. 

While the fig of accepted bicycle injuries betwixt 2017 and 2022 was conscionable nether 2.5 million—far eclipsing the fig of radical wounded with immoderate of the different vehicles—the fig of injuries per twelvemonth didn’t alteration much. That stands successful stark opposition to e-scooters, which witnessed a emergence from astir 8,500 injuries successful 2017 to 57,000 successful 2022, and e-bikes, which had a specified 751 injuries successful 2017 but astir 23,500 successful 2022. 

“The U.S. had a singular summation successful micromobility injuries during the survey period,” said Adrian Fernandez, main nonmigratory with the UCSF Department of Urology and 1 of the members of the probe squad successful a press release. “This summation successful accidents not lone introduced a demographic shift, but besides underscores an urgent request for added information measures. There are undeniable wellness and biology benefits to micromobility conveyance use, but structural changes indispensable beryllium taken to beforehand harmless riding.”

“Our findings accent a concerning trend: helmet usage is noticeably little among electrical conveyance users, and risky behaviors, specified arsenic riding nether the influence, are much prevalent,” said Kevin Li, different of the squad members down the study. 

The doctors said the results of their survey should enactment arsenic a wake-up telephone some for micromobility users to workout amended information practices and for radical successful positions of authorization to heighten infrastructure and marque their usage safer.