E-Scooter, E-Bike Injuries Tripled in US Since 2019

Emergency department visits due to e-scooter and e-bike injuries have tripled since 2019 in the United States, with roughly 10% of injuries influenced by alcohol and substance abuse, according to a new study published in Injury Prevention.

Researchers analyzed emergency department visits from 2019 to 2022 using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System and identified 3700 related to electric scooters and 320 to electric bikes. Over 100 hospitals reported data out of 5000 potential, so numbers were weighted to represent a nationwide sample. 

ED visits related to injuries obtained while using the micromobility devices tripled from 22,835 in 2019 to 65,892 in 2022. Nearly 80% of injuries were by male riders, with most patients between 18- and 39-years-old (51.5% electric scooter, 48.5% electric bike).

Akshaya Bhagavathula, PhD, lead author of the study, said he was prompted to conduct the research after he obtained a knee fracture while riding an e-bike.

“There’s no helmets, no safety gear. I realized then that it might be a bigger problem not being recognized by many people,” Bhagavathula.

Nearly 9.0% of e-scooter riders and 2.5% of e-bike riders had consumed alcohol prior to or during their incident. Meanwhile, illegal substance use was reported by 3.1% of scooter and 0.9% of e-bike riders. In comparison with those aged 18-39 years, children and teens aged 10-17 years had 7.5 and 4.1 times higher odds of having used alcohol and substance use during transportation, respectively.

ED visits for e-scooter injuries included those involving lower limbs (29%),head (19%), upper trunk (10%), face (10%), shoulder (7%), and lower trunk (6%). For e-bike injuries, the most common injury areas were lower limbs (34%), head (18%), shoulder (12%), and face (7%).

Awareness is needed to prevent serious injuries, Bhagavathula said. 

“There should be policies in place so that individuals who even engage in the usage of e-bikes whilst being under the influence should not actually be allowed to use these modes of transport,” he said.

The authors had no financial disclosures.