Scientists from UCLA found for a recent six-year period, the injury rate for riders of electric scooters in one section of Los Angeles was higher than the national rates for riders of motorcycles, bicycles, and cars, and pedestrians.
The research is published in PLOS One and was conducted by Dr. Joann Elmore et al.
In a study published in 2019, UCLA researchers reported that people injured in e-scooter accidents often sustain fractures and head trauma requiring treatment in an emergency department.
That study relied on data for 249 people treated at UCLA Health’s two hospitals — Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica — between Sept. 1, 2017, and Aug. 31, 2018.
In the new study, the team used data from greater Los Angeles to highlight a risk that is likely to grow globally as e-scooters proliferate.
They examined 1,354 injured people who were treated at 180 UCLA outpatient clinics as well as UCLA Health emergency departments and urgent care centers.
Prior to the widespread introduction of shareable e-scooters in 2018, there were at most 13 e-scooter injuries per year.
After [the] introduction of shareable e-scooter operators in our region, e-scooter injuries increased to 595 and 672 in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Those injured in e-scooter accidents were not only the vehicles’ riders, but also pedestrians who were hit by moving e-scooters or who tripped over parked e-scooters.
The researchers found that patients often were treated for injuries to the head and extremities.
Five hundred thirty-three patients sustained injuries to more than one part of the body, 72 were admitted to the hospital, 21 were sent to the critical care unit and two died from their injuries.
The team found overall, 33% of victims required substantial subsequent therapeutic clinical resources from our health system beyond a single clinical visit.
Therefore, the impact of novel e-scooter technology may have been underestimated by early studies of [emergency department] visits alone.
The estimated injury rate amounts to 115 injuries per 1 million e-scooter trips. By contrast, the national injury rates for other modes of transportation are 104 injuries per million motorcycle trips, 15 injuries per million bicycle trips, 8 injuries per million passenger car trips, and 2 injuries per million walking trips, according to a 2007 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The team says it is important to note that e-scooter injuries may be less severe and less fatal than motorcycle injuries, but they still think our e-scooter injury rate is an underestimate.
Sign up for our newsletter for more information about this topic.
If you care about wellness, please read studies that exercises in the morning and evening offer different health benefits, and just 1 hour of this exercise every week may prevent heart attack, stroke.
For more information about wellness, please see recent studies that these two exercises may help protect muscles in older people, and results showing this slow exercise may help you lower blood pressure.
Copyright © 2022 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
