E-scooter Riders Are Three Times More Likely Than Cyclists To End Up In Hospital, Study Shows

Young, helmetless, and often nether nan influence, stand-up e-scooter riders are landing successful Helsinki emergency rooms astatine overmuch higher rates than cyclists, spotlighting urgent information gaps successful municipality mobility.

Study: Comparing nan characteristics of electrical scooter and bicycle injuries: a retrospective cohort study. Image Credit: Andrey_Popov / Shuttertock

In a caller study published successful nan diary Scientific Reports, a group of researchers quantified and contrasted nan incidence, severity, and consequence factors of stand-up electrical scooter (e-scooter) and bicycle injuries.

Background

Picture a Friday nighttime downtown: neon lights flash, rideshares queue, and wheels buzz past traffic. Micromobility keeps streets moving, yet anterior studies estimate astir 10 riders successful each 100,000 onshore successful an emergency section (ED) aft a stand-up e-scooter spin, but nan Helsinki-specific complaint was 7.8 per 100,000 trips. This is astir triple nan toll for bicycles. Unlike cars, these platforms connection nary crumple zone; nan rider is nan bumper.

Younger adults, late-night trips, alcohol, and helmets near astatine location create a risky mix. Knowing really scooter crashes disagree from bicycle crashes tin guideline velocity caps, information campaigns, and lanes. Further investigation must corroborate which measures genuinely flatten nan wounded curve.

About nan study

The squad conducted a cohort study of stand-up e-scooter and bicycle injuries treated successful 3 EDs betwixt January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023. Anonymized cases were mined pinch keyword searches from nan infirmary information pool, and records were screened to corroborate a crash. Age, sex, timing, helmet use, intoxicant testing, and wounded specifications were abstracted. The astir terrible lesion was coded pinch nan Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS), and nan composite New Injury Severity Score (NISS) captured trauma burden.

Usage denominators came from 2 sources: travel logs supplied by nan Vianova Cityscope work for shared scooters and survey-derived estimates of cycling trips. Injury incidence per 100,000 trips and comparative consequence (RR) pinch 95% assurance interval (CI) were computed.

Continuous variables pinch a Gaussian distribution are reported arsenic intends and modular deviation (SD); proportions are fixed arsenic counts and percentages. Statistical comparisons employed Fisher’s exact, chi-squared (χ²), aliases Student’s t tests arsenic appropriate, pinch value group astatine 0.05. Analyses followed nan STROBE checklist and were executed successful SPSS type 29. The infirmary investigation committee approved nan protocol and waived informed consent, and each procedures complied pinch section regulations.

Study results

In nan two-year window, EDs treated 677 stand-up e-scooter riders and 1,889 cyclists for crash-related trauma. Mean age: 33 ± 13 versus 47 ± 17 years; males constituted 64% and 59%, respectively. Helmet take was scarce among scooter riders, conscionable 29 individuals (4%), contrasting pinch 522 helmeted cyclists (28%). Alcohol played a awesome role, arsenic tests and notes indicated intoxication successful 29% of scooter riders versus 8% of cyclists.

Linking injuries to vulnerability revealed a sharper disparity. Shared scooter logs recorded 8.06 cardinal trips, yielding an ED incidence of 7.8 injuries per 100,000 trips. Survey-based estimates suggested 82.98 cardinal cycling trips, corresponding to 2.2 injuries per 100,000 outings. The resulting RR for scooter recreation was 3.6 (95% CI: 3.3–3.9), underscoring a consequence much than triple that of bicycling.

Injury patterns besides diverged, arsenic caput and cervix trauma occurred successful 46% of scooter crashes compared pinch 31% of bicycle crashes, while cyclists bore much precocious extremity (45%) and torso (11%) injuries. Craniofacial fractures were nan archetypal scooter break (12%), whereas wrist and manus fractures dominated cycling injuries (9%). The AIS distribution skewed mildly for some modes, yet scooters had a somewhat higher stock of superior wounds (10% versus 8%). The azygous captious scooter lawsuit progressive diffuse axonal wounded (DAI), whereas 1 cyclist knowledgeable aggregate intracranial hemorrhages.

Resource depletion reflected these profiles. Eight scooter riders (1.2%) required admittance to an intensive attraction portion (ICU), 7 pinch caput trauma and six who were intoxicated. Cyclists registered 12 ICU stays (0.6%). Operative guidance was much communal aft cycling crashes (13%) than scooter crashes (8%), mostly because orthopedic teams plated fractured wrists, clavicles, and ribs. Overall, inpatient admittance rates were low, yet cyclists again edged scooters (9.8% versus 8.1%).

Sixty-nine percent of cycling accidents occurred betwixt 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., while 60% of scooter accidents occurred during these hours, and 40% occurred overnight. Half of nan nighttime scooter crashes progressive alcohol, compared pinch one-fifth of nocturnal cycling crashes. Among intoxicated riders, helmet usage was rare. Despite a 15 km/h nighttime limit connected rentals since 2021, summertime evenings still produced dense clusters of alcohol-linked caput injuries among commuters. This inclination persisted crossed seasons and facilities.

Conclusions

To summarize, this comparative study indicates that stand-up e-scooter recreation presently carries a higher wounded load than accepted cycling. Scooter riders were younger, much often intoxicated, seldom helmeted, and particularly susceptible to caput trauma, whereas cyclists chiefly injured arms and torso but required much surgery.

Even pinch velocity caps, nan RR remained 3.6, suggesting that behavior, not technology, drives harm. Municipalities should prioritize helmet campaigns, merge intoxicant checks into rental apps, and see further nighttime restrictions.

Future prospective studies should trial whether specified interventions, together pinch redesigned lanes, trim ED visits and ICU admissions. As pinch each retrospective observational studies, be aware is advised erstwhile interpreting causality, and incomplete aliases missing information whitethorn power findings.