E-scooters are bigger risk of serious injury than cycling

E-SCOOTER riders who are involved in crashes are more likely to suffer serious injuries than those riding bicycles, a study has found.

Research carried out in Injury Prevention, an online journal, found that 60 per cent of e-scooter riders that were injured while riding were admitted to a major trauma or critical care unit following their accident.

This compared to just 47 per cent of all cyclists having similar levels of injuries following an accident.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London studied data from the UK Trauma Audit and Research Network that covered injuries of 293 e-scooter riders and 2,583 cyclists who were taken to hospital after an incident.

The analysis found that 30 per cent of injuries to e-scooter users involved head trauma, compared to 20 per cent of cyclist injuries.

Almost twice the number of e-scooter riders (28 per cent) had the most severe head injuries, compared to cyclists (15 per cent).

Despite a high percentage of those injured requiring the highest level of trauma care, deaths were still rare among both types of transport, with 3 per cent of e-scooter riders, and 2 per cent of cyclists dying from their injuries. Nevertheless, the level of e-scooter riders needing critical care covered 20 per cent of injuries, compared to 15 per cent of cyclists.

In the report’s conclusion, the authors wrote: “These findings indicate that e-scooter use may result in a higher relative rate of hospital admission due to significant trauma than bicycles and, in particular, higher rates of severe head injury.”

“As the number of e-scooter trips taken continues to grow, further legislation and tighter regulation of e-scooter rental are required to reduce the already significant burden of injury associated with this mode of transport.”

The research comes as the number of e-scooters grows, with more than a million estimated to be on UK streets and 14.5million rental trips carried out in 2021.