LOS ANGELES (KNX) — E-Scooter riders are at a higher risk of crashing than bicyclists and those riding a motorcycle, according to new research shared by UCLA. The findings are based on data gathered over the last six years in Los Angeles.
The data shows that in the last six years, there were 115 injuries per one million e-scooter rides. By contrast, the national injury rate for motorcycles is 104 injuries per one million trips, according to the report released Wednesday.
Speaking with KNX, Lead Researcher Dr. Kimon Ioannides said the higher rate of injury could be attributed to the fact that there are very few regulations on the e-scooters.
“You know, an e-scooter is a motorized thing that in some ways is similar to a motorcycle,” he said.
“Part of what we’re trying to call into question is hey, maybe we should think of these things as not being similar to a child’s push scooter…these aren’t push scooters. These are probably more like motorcycles and we should use them with the same caution.”
Their study published in PLOS One this week, researchers said their goal was to “describe e-scooter injuries and estimate the rate of injury per e-scooter trip. They reviewed patients from 180 clinics in the greater Los Angeles region and both the UCLA Ronald Reagan and UCLA Santa Monica hospitals between Jan. 1, 2014 and May 14, 2020 to gather their data.
Using those records, they found that 33% of e-scooter riders who crashed required serious medical attention and several did not survive the crash.
Based on the data shared by Ioannides’ team, KNX learned there were more males than females involved in e-scooter crashes and that a majority of those involved in the crashes, regardless of gender, were between the ages of 18 and 40.
While many of the injuries involved multiple areas of the body, 731 were specific to the upper body parts, 633 were specific to the lower body parts, and 578 were specific to the head or neck, according to data shared by researchers.
“Prior to the widespread introduction of shareable e-scooters in 2018, there were at most 13 e-scooter injuries per year,” researchers wrote.
“After introduction of shareable e-scooter operators in our region, e-scooter injuries increased to 595 and 672 in 2018 and 2019, respectively.”
Speaking with The Hill, Ioannides said his team acknowledges that they were limited to only data collected at UCLA Health facilities and were not able to include people treated elsewhere.
For that reason, he said he believes the true number of e-scooter injuries could be higher, and therefore should result in reforms surrounding the transportation devices.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
