Electric scooters have forced several people to stop at the hospital with injuries in the United States.

Electric scooters have become very popular in the United States through companies like Bird, Scoot and Lime. However, a study published this Friday (25), apparently the first of its kind, speaks a little about the disadvantages of this type of transport: many people hurt themselves and end up in emergencies.

Electric scooters started in California. In 2017, Lime then offered the scooter rental service (operated via an app) in San Francisco; Bird then launched his version of the service in Santa Monica. Although they were accused of breaking municipal by-laws by putting a group of scooters on the streets without permission, the new mode of transportation became very famous (both cities temporarily banned electric scooters but have published pilot programs of some companies).

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As one might expect, the researchers at the beginning of the study, published this Friday in the Jama Network Open all come from the University of California at Los Angeles, which gave them a good idea of ​​the evolution of the trend.

They decided to review medical data from the emergency department of two university-attached hospitals, one of which was Santa Monica. They highlighted cases that occurred between September 1, 2017 and August 31, 2018, using search terms such as "scooter", "Bird" and "Lime" to find them.

In all, 249 people were ready. – Relief from injuries badociated with electric scooters during the period. The majority, 91%, were injured during use, usually falling. And some were seriously injured.

"Although only 6% of patients were hospitalized, nearly one in three patients arrived by ambulance, 80% underwent imaging (x-ray and CT), and fractures and wounds. Headaches were common among patients received at an emergency, "said Tarak Trivedi, a physician at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center at the University of California at Los Angeles. , in Gizmodo by e-mail

Trivedi and his team also conducted a simple observational survey of nearly 200 electric scooter drivers to see if they were safe. Only 5% of drivers were wearing a helmet (a similar percentage of emergency department drivers reported using the accessory, although helmet use was not specified in 63% of cases). Just over a quarter of drivers used the sidewalk, which is banned in many places, while 9% bypbaded the Highway Code and 8% had people with them; 11% were minors, ignoring the age limit set by companies such as Bird and Lime.

Doctors had already exposed their problems with electric scooters. According to the authors, the results of the study are the first to document the extent of injuries in the emergency room. For now, says Trivedi, you can not say how often these incidents with drivers occur because we do not know how many people use scooters in a given area. To understand a little background, Bird recently announced that he had reached ten million trips in September, while Lime said he made 11.5 million trips by combining scooters and bikes.

The goal of the authors is not to break the rules. the wave of electric scooters; Trivedi itself uses the mode of transport regularly. However, businesses and cities clearly have the opportunity to reduce the risk of accidents.

"Our study did not badess the role of damaged or defective scooters in accidents.However, as a user of electric scooters, I know that accelerators and brakes can sometimes" trap It's something the patients told me, as well as reporting it to the emergency room, "he said. "Scooter companies could make it easier to signal scooter problems and minimize the number of defective scooters, and cities could consider expanding protected lanes so that cyclists, bikers and pedestrians can be safe. "

Companies such as Trivedi can also help researchers like Trivedi to share mileage data to facilitate quantification. the accident rate of scooter use. This would allow them to understand how dangerous these devices are. In the future, Trivedi and his colleagues could also review visits to patients attending medical consultations, which would further fill the gaps.

Still, we can not fail to warn that scooter drivers themselves have a responsibility to stay safe.