E-Scooter riders at higher risk of serious injuries in road accidents

Using an audit of trauma care in England and Wales in 2021 as published in the Injury Prevention journal, Queen Mary University researchers examined whether there were any differences in injury patterns and background factors between cyclists and electric scooter riders.

They found that in 2021, 293 e-scooter riders and 2,538 cyclists were hospitalised after road accidents. The study did not consider injuries suffered by pedestrians or other road users and only examined patients admitted to the hospital. This means the true impact of injuries on e-scooters riders could be even greater.

The author of the study, Christopher Aylwin, explained that the number of significant injuries to cyclists was nearly nine times higher than it was for e-scooter riders. This was due to the fact that there are at least nine times as many cyclists in the UK as there are e-scooter riders.

Although the number of e-scooter riders suffering significant injuries might seem lower, they were actually 60% more likely to be admitted to a critical care unit, compared to only 47% of cyclists. Researchers have also found nearly twice as many e-scooter riders suffered severe head injuries, with an extraordinary 37 being in this category out of 41 critical injuries.

Compared with cyclists, injured e-scooter riders tended to be younger, with an average age of 35 compared with an average of 50 for injured cyclists. The data also showed that 26% of e-scooter riders were drunk or otherwise impaired, compared with only 7% of cyclists. Furthermore, only 7% of e-scooter riders wore helmets, compared with 47% of cyclists.

Unfortunately, during recent years, there have also been instances where some e-scooter riders found themselves involved in fatal accidents that cost them their life.

In March 2022, a teenage girl riding an e-scooter crashed into a van in East London. Despite paramedics promptly treating her, she died at the scene shortly after. In another case, in July 2019, a well-known TV presenter and Youtuber lost her life in a crash involving her e-scooter and a lorry in Battersea, London.

According to recent government statistics, over half of the 931 e-scooter crashes in the UK during the period from January 2021 to June 2021, occurred in London.

While some people survive road accidents unscathed or with minor bruises, countless others end up with severe burns, temporary or permanent paralysis, bone fractures, spinal injuries, and even death.

Additionally, road accidents can cause profound psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and feelings of hopelessness and withdrawal, among others.

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