540% increase in 999 call-outs for e-scooter injuries
AMBULANCE call-outs to incidents involving electric scooters have shot up by 540 per cent in two years, exclusive figures reveal.
Some riders were injured while drunk or had been in collisions with cars. Others were pedestrians mown down in the street.
Treatment for head injuries also surged as many riders do not wear helmets – and at least three people died.
Incidents jumped from 75 in 2019 to 480 in the first eight months of 2021 – an increase of 540 per cent. The figing ures affect ambulance trusts covering dozens of towns and cities where e-scooters are used in government-backed trials.
However, most of the incidents are believed to involve privately owned e-scooters.
More than 840 incidents were counted in total since 2019, according to figures obtained by the Daily Mail through Freedom of Information requests. Only a third of trusts released data meaning the true figure will be much higher.
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS), which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire, saw one of the biggest surges.
Incidents went from 43 in 2019 to 165 last year and 249 during the first eight months of this year. The majority happened between 5pm and midnight and involved those aged under 40.
The most common type of injury was ‘head injury and trauma’, with 149 recorded.
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which covers Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Suffolk, saw incidents go from 20 in 2019 to 149 last year.
They included ‘drunk/intoxicated’ riders crashing, users ‘falling off’ and pedestrians being hit.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust saw incidents soar from nine in 2019 to 51 last year.
The figures are being blamed on privately owned scooters – which can legally be used only on private land. Mark Ainsworth-Smith, a consultant and senior medic at SCAS, said his trust has dealt with incidents where privately owned e-scooters have been modified to go at speeds of more than 40mph, leadThe to even more serious injuries. He added: ‘The issue seems to be a growing problem, often affecting teenagers and young adults.
‘The injuries we see are no different to those we see in motorcycle accidents.’ He said users ‘commonly’ ride on pavements and don’t wear protective equipment or reflective clothing after dark.
Mr Ainsworth-Smith added: ‘We would encourage riders of electric scooters to recognise the potential dangers that they are exposed to, and the injuries that they could cause to pedestrians and other road users.’
Only e-scooters in governmentbacked trials, which users typically pay to rent per minute, are legal. schemes involve licence checks and other measures as a condition of use to ensure a level of safety.
These scooters are limited to 15.5mph and permitted only on roads or cycle lanes, not pavements, and are used in around 50 cities and towns across the country.
Ministers have delayed making a decision on whether to legalise privately owned e-scooters on the roads until at least summer 2022.
Retailers reported a boom in sales last year during lockdown but critics say many do not make clear they are illegal on public roads.
E-scooters typically cost from £350, with high-end models running up to nearly £1,000. Top speeds are capped at 15.5mph but they can be modified to go up to 70mph.
Earlier this year, a Mail investigation revealed how thugs have used e-scooters to carry out hundreds of crimes including robberies, assaults and even a drive-by shooting.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘Anyone concerned with how vendors are advertising them should contact Trading Standards or the Advertising Standards Authority. Ministers recently wrote to the largest retailers reminding them of their legal duty to provide clear information outlining where e-scooters are and are not permitted to be used.’
‘No different from motorbike accidents’