As the popularity of electric scooters and bikes has soared in recent years, researchers in California have found that the number of injuries connected to their use has also increased.
Part of the rise in injuries could be due to just how popular these electric vehicles, also known as micromobility vehicles, have gotten; their use grew 50-fold in the past decade, according to a new study published by University of California San Francisco researchers in the journal JAMA Open Network. However, their riders are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, like riding while intoxicated or without a helmet, compared to those using conventional vehicles (i.e. regular bikes and scooters). They were also more likely to use them in densely trafficked urban areas.
The new study examined the number of injuries involving riders of e-bikes and e-scooters between 2017 and 2022 and compared those to the injuries suffered on their more conventional counterparts.
While the number of conventional bicycle injuries between 2017 and 2022 was just under 2.5 million—far eclipsing the number of people hurt with any of the other vehicles—the number of injuries per year didn’t change much. That stands in stark contrast to e-scooters, which witnessed a rise from roughly 8,500 injuries in 2017 to 57,000 in 2022, and e-bikes, which had a mere 751 injuries in 2017 but almost 23,500 in 2022.
“The U.S. had a remarkable increase in micromobility injuries during the study period,” said Adrian Fernandez, chief resident with the UCSF Department of Urology and one of the members of the research team in a press release. “This increase in accidents not only introduced a demographic shift, but also underscores an urgent need for added safety measures. There are undeniable health and environmental benefits to micromobility vehicle use, but structural changes must be taken to promote safe riding.”
“Our findings stress a concerning trend: helmet usage is noticeably lower among electric vehicle users, and risky behaviors, such as riding under the influence, are more prevalent,” said Kevin Li, another of the team members behind the study.
The doctors said the results of their survey should act as a wake-up call both for micromobility users to exercise better safety practices and for people in positions of authority to enhance infrastructure and make their use safer.
