More people hurt riding e-scooters

Fractures, head and neck wounds common

Injuries suffered by e-scooter users have risen since the devices became widely available for rental in Kelowna and Vernon, Interior Health says.

“Evidence from 2021 suggests an increase in the number of scooterrelated injuries as compared to the previous five years,” IH said in a Thursday release.

The release does not provide detailed information on the increase. But it says the “most affected age groups were young individuals between the ages of 20 and 40, and the most common types of injuries were fracture of the upper extremities and open wounds to the head and neck.”

More than 90 percent of those injured while riding an e-scooter were not wearing a helmet, IH says.

While the IH release praises escooters as a “convenient, fun alternative to driving a car”, it says users should ride the devices in a safe manner.

Safety practices include wearing a helmet, not carrying passengers, not riding under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and riding at slow speeds and in quiet areas until becoming familiar with the escooter’s operation.

The safety of e-scooters has been a controversial question since the City of Kelowna allowed private companies to begin renting the devices in 2020. That year, companies were not required to provide all users with helmets, though some were available free of charge.

After concerns about injuries and conflicts between pedestrians and e-scooter riders, council heard from staff that the injury rate for the devices was “in line with the bicycle injury rate”.

Between January and the end of August 2021, 51 people were treated for scooter-related injuries at Kelowna General Hospital, Interior Health says. In the same period, city officials say, 203,000 trips were taken on e-scooters rented by companies licensed to operate in Kelowna.

For this operating season, everyone who rents an e-scooter in Kelowna must be provided with a helmet. Other safety measures include preventing the device from being operated on sidewalks, speed limits in certain areas, and preventing their use overnight.