Scooters: The Next Public Health Issue? – By Katelyn Newman (US News) / Jan 25 2019
An analysis of related injuries found low rates of adherence to existing regulations around rider age and helmet use.
Injuries from standing electric scooters present a potential public health issue as their use and popularity rise, according to a new study published in JAMA Friday.
In a retrospective analysis, University of California–Los Angeles researchers examined medical records for standing electric scooter injuries at two associated emergency departments between Sept. 1, 2017, and Aug. 31, 2018.
They found a total of 249 patient cases ranging in severity, with head injuries (40.2 percent), fractures (31.7) and contusions, sprains and lacerations without fracture or head injury (27.7) to be the most common injuries. Further, these scooter-linked injuries surpassed bicyclist (195) and pedestrian (181) injuries in the scooters’ first year on the streets, the authors found in a post hoc analysis.
“Many thousands of riders are now using standing electric scooters daily on U.S. streets shared with millions of pedestrians and drivers,” the study says. “Understanding the impact of rising scooter use on public health is more important than ever.”
Some local laws require the use of helmets when riding standing scooters, “but no uniform set of policies exists,” with enforcement varying by location, according to the report. Study authors found only 10 riders out of the 249 patients were wearing a helmet, and 12 patients were intoxicated or had a blood alcohol level greater than 0.05 percent. Further, while the majority of patients were between the ages of 18 and 40, about 10 percent of patients treated were younger than 18, the minimum age scooter companies like Bird Rides and Lime permit for use.
In addition, they documented a total of 193 electric scooter riders during three public observation sessions in the community surrounding the two hospitals in September 2018 and found 94.3 percent of riders were not wearing helmets and nearly 10 percent failed to comply with traffic laws.
“This suggests that current self-enforced regulations imposed by private electric scooter companies may be inadequate,” the study says,
Dr. Frederick Rivara, University of Washington Medicine’s chief of General Pediatrics, pointed to the lack of helmets documented among people presenting scooter-related injury as a major cause for concern in an associated commentary piece.
“None of the companies that rent these vehicles in the increasingly common hubless system provide helmets,” he wrote. “The presence of so many unhelmeted users of 2-wheeled vehicles may provide an example to bicycle riders to also forgo helmet use, potentially undoing two decades of work to increase helmet use by bicyclists.”
Authors note that improved documentation, such as helmet use and injuries involving scooters, in medical records as well as an examination of outpatient visits to urgent care or primary care clinics for minor injuries would improve the results, which they believe underestimate the extent of the occurrence of injuries and health care costs.
“This rapidly expanding technology is a disruptive force in short-distance transportation, and policy makers seeking to understand associated risks and appropriate regulatory responses should seriously consider its effects on public health,” the study notes. “Riders share roads with fast moving vehicular traffic but appear to underestimate hazards.”
In December, city officials in Austin, Texas, called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess the manmade public health threat of the scooters, Quartz reports.
