5,000-foot e-scooter ride ends in injury, half of the head / Boing Boing

Austin Public Health and the CDC have studied the safety of electric scooters and have come to the conclusion that if you drive them, you must wear a helmet. One out of 5,000 e-scooter rides result in injury and 48% of them are head injuries.

From Ars Technica:

This study actually revealed a higher rate of head injuries compared to the Los Angeles study: 48% overall. But multiple wounds were common. 70% were also injured in the upper limbs and 55% in the lower limbs. More than a third (35%) fractured a bone and 19% more than one, not counting fractures to the fingers and toes.

Injuries result from a wide range of scenarios. Fifty-five per cent were injured on the street, but 33 per cent on the sidewalk. Sixteen percent of the injuries involved another vehicle, but only 10 percent actually collided with another vehicle. An equal proportion of injuries (10%) involved a sidewalk and 7% resulted from hitting an inanimate object, such as a street lamp. Injuries were more common on weekends (39%) and between 18 hours and 6 hours (39%). But only 29% reported having used alcohol within 12 hours of being injured. Thirty-seven percent blamed excessive speed and 19% felt that the malfunction of a scooter was to blame.

Image: Rachid Jalayanadeja / Shutterstock

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