Nearly a third of e-scooter riders who end up in A&E have a fracture or dislocation, a new study has found.
Researchers also discovered that almost half of the emergency room visits were between midnight and 6am, and 50 per cent of those injured had drunk alcohol.
The figures, based on 311 attendances over a two-year period at a Finnish hospital, showed that 31 per cent of cases involved a fracture or dislocation.
The most common of these were broken forearms or collarbones.
Men are also more likely to arrive hurt, as they made up 60 per cent of those attending A&E.
Nearly a third of e-scooter riders who end up in A&E have a fracture or dislocation, a new study has found (Stock image)
The researchers, from Tampere University Hospital in Finland, wrote in their paper: ‘Electric scooters (e-scooters) have become an increasingly popular mode of transportation in metropolitan areas around the world, which has led to many e-scooter–related injuries.
‘The most common injuries are head and facial trauma and extremity injuries.
‘Patients with these injuries are predominantly younger men, and substance use is also relatively common among the injured.’
They added: ‘Because e-scooters remain popular and the market continues to grow, further studies are needed to evaluate targeted safety measures on e-scooter use.’
Their figures showed that 18 people were injured for every 100,000 rides made, while the incidence of major trauma was 5.9 per every 100,000 rides.
The UK Government is considering whether to legalise e-scooters to help cut traffic congestion and pollution.
Privately owned e-scooters are currently banned from public roads, pavements and cycle paths, but rental trials have taken place in cities across the country.
In the year to June 2021, there were 882 accidents involving e-scooters, leading to 931 casualties and three deaths.
The problem is worst in London, where the first six months of 2021 saw 258 crashes, dwarfing the nine recorded during the whole of 2018.
The Metropolitan Police last year seized more than 3,600 e-scooters that had been used illegally.
In July 2019, TV presenter and YouTube influencer Emily Hartridge (pictured above, in November 2018) was killed while riding her e-scooter in Battersea, London
In July 2019, TV presenter and YouTuber Emily Hartridge, 35, was on her way to a fertility clinic in July when she was involved in the UK’s first fatal e-scooter crash, in Battersea, south London.
An under-inflated tyre on her e-scooter made her lose control and she was hit by a lorry.
Her ’10 Reasons Why’ videos on sex, relationships, love, gender and mental health, reached a YouTube audience of more than 354,000 subscribers.
The Met Police said nobody had been arrested over Ms Hartridge’s death and an inquest ruled that it was accidental.
In her conclusions, senior coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox wrote: ‘Ms Hartridge was riding an electric scooter on Queenstown Road when she lost control after passing over an inspector hatch in the cycle lane and was thrown under the path of an HGV.
‘She died instantly of injuries sustained by the HGV driving over her.’
The study has been published in the journal Jama Network Open.
