Electric scooters are available via sharing services in many U.S. cities, and they’ve been touted as a greener way to get around. The National Association of City Transportation Officials reports that in 2018, people took 38.5 million trips on share scooters from brands such as Bird, Lime, and Spin. But with that new trend comes a new health scare.
A new study took data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, and determined that between 2014 and 2018, about 3,300 people were admitted to the hospital due to injuries related to riding one of the scooters, and that’s out of a total of more than 39,000 injuries. People ages 18 to 34 were most commonly injured, and men accounted for about two-thirds of scooter accidents. Study authors say “improved rider safety measures and regulation” are needed, as the accident numbers just keep climbing year over year.
