[ad_1]
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz – Brandon Nelson shows the photographer an image of himself at the hospital following an accident he had on a Byrd scooter on August 17 at his home on September 2nd. (Photo of Caitlin O 'Hara for the Washington Post)
A 24-year-old Dallas man, who died of a fall from a Lime electric scooter, was killed by brutal head injuries, county officials said Thursday, likely making him the first person to die . the nation this year.
The Dallas officials' determination came just after California governor Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill Wednesday that allows adults to drive electric scooters without a helmet. The new law also gives California cities the power to let scooters operate on streets with a speed limit of 35 mph, an increase of 10 mph.
The three largest electronic scooter companies, Lime, Bird and Skip, said they were unaware of other fatal accidents involving their devices. When asked to comment on the passing of the California bill in light of the death of the electronic scooter in Dallas, Ali Bay, deputy press secretary to Governor Brown, simply replied in an email: "The Governor's action speaks for itself.
Lime is committed to launching an investigation into Stoneking's death. In a statement released on Thursday, he said, "Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family and loved ones of the victim. We are working tirelessly with local authorities to support their ongoing investigation. We have and will continue to work with them in a transparent way.
[Scooter use is rising in major cities. So are trips to the emergency room.]
Financial analysts estimate that the value of the lime market could reach more than $ 1 billion after receiving $ 335 million in financing including a major Uber investment. In an interview with the Washington Post earlier this year, Uber CEO Dara Khoshrowshahi spoke of the critical role scooters and bike sharing could play in his company's efforts to transform urban transportation. .
Khoshrowshahi also strove to rehabilitate Uber's image as a growth company. In March, when an autonomous Uber car hit and killed an Arizona woman, Khoshrowshahi quickly froze the company's autonomous driving program until it was considered safe.
When told about the inevitability of lime, Uber said in a statement: "Customer safety is essential for Uber, whether for bicycles, scooters or cars. As we continue to work with our product for scooters and Lime integration, we keep safety in mind.
The three electronic scooter companies have been aggressively expanding nationally, and some analysts estimate that 65,000 scooters are currently on the streets of the country. Start-ups have also launched services abroad.
But almost as soon as the scooters arrived in the cities, serious injuries followed.
Emergency room doctors from a dozen cities told The Post that they saw an increase in scooter accidents. In seven cities, these doctors routinely report "serious" injuries – including head injuries – caused by faulty scooters or rollovers over uneven surfaces, as well as car accidents or collisions with pedestrians.
"An electric scooter is practically a moped, just a little slower," said Dr. Sam Torbati, co-chair and medical director of the Roman Ruth and Harry emergency department at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. "People seem to feel safe because it looks like a recreational tool, but it can lead to serious injury."
Torbati said it would take another year to the hospital to collect enough data to make a proper assessment of the risks associated with electric scooters, but he repeated a repeated message by all doctors interviewed by the post: Wear a helmet.
"It really makes me anxious when I see someone with headphones and a cup of coffee on the pavement without a helmet," he added. "The public is thrilled with this new, fun form of transportation, but the injuries we see suggest that they are not aware of the risks involved because they could be seriously injured."
Dr. Christopher Michael Ziebell, medical director of Dell Seton's emergency department in Austin Tex, said his staff had treated nine "serious traumas" caused by electric scooters since arriving in Austin in April.
For whatever reason, he said, scooter drivers seem to feel "invincible" by driving through traffic and sidewalks.
But their brains are particularly vulnerable during accidents and a serious head injury can result, Ziebell said.
"A serious head injury is not a simple concussion or a fractured skull," he said. "In fact, it bleeds inside the cranial cavity in or around the brain, damaging parts of the brain that can sometimes be permanent. It requires significant rehabilitation and prolonged hospitalization to be treated.
Scooter companies have consistently said that safety is a top priority. They say that their apps and labels on scooters contain basic safety information as well as training instructions. Bird asks users to download a driver's license and confirm that they are at least 18 years old.
Bird and Skip have programs that give helmets to runners who request them, and Lime notes that riders must follow an "in-app" tutorial on helmet safety to unlock one of the company's scooters for the first time .
[ad_2]
Source link
