The popularity of e-scooters from billion-dollar companies like Uber, Lyft, Lime and Bird have created a new health scare, according to the Centers for Disease control.
Since electric scooters began populating streets of some of the country's biggest cities last year, there has been a surge in emergency room visits for fractures, dislocations and head trauma, the CDC found in a study that will be released at the Epidemic Intelligence Service conference in Atlanta on Thursday.
The CDC has found that head injuries topped the list of accident-related incidents involving e-scooters at 45%. The study determined that many e-scooter injuries could have been prevented if riders wore helmets and were more careful around cars, according to summary of the study released on Wednesday.
[...]
According to the CDC study, the most common wound after head injuries involved upper extremity fractures at 27%, followed by lower extremity fractures at 12%. The study, which lasted nearly three months, found the e-scooter injury rate was 14.3 per 100,000 trips.
The median age for people injured was 29. The majority of injuries occurred on the street, with 29% connected to first-time riders and 18% involving motor vehicles.
(Score: 1) by zoward on Sunday May 05 2019, @03:20PM (1 child)
There are guides all over the internet showing how to buy an impounded electric scooter for cheap, and hack it so you can use it. I keep thinking this would be a project ... except between all the headlines I've seen about injuries (riding one without a helmet? Seriously?) and the fact that my bike is part of the reason I'm still in reasonably decent health, I think I'm gonna pass.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @03:40PM
The injuries are mostly to pedestrians (at least here in San Diego according to the news) from drunken drivers. If some asshat plowed me over while walking on the boardwalk, they'd get an elbow to the teeth.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday May 05 2019, @03:39PM (6 children)
Darwin clearly at work here.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Sunday May 05 2019, @05:50PM (5 children)
Not when the person injured was NOT on the scooter. Not all scooter injuries are "one car accidents" so to speak.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @06:47PM (3 children)
That is not how Darwinism works. The fittest survive. If the ones on scooters are taking out people on that are not then they are more fit. Also the ones not on the scooters that are able to better survive a hit will procreate.
That is how it works.
Darwinism on the internet is people who do stupid things die. That only part of Darwinism. You also need the ability to survive those who do stupid things.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday May 06 2019, @01:08AM (1 child)
No -- at this level we're down to just blind luck -- you might live where scooters are absent or be in the 999,985 people who don't get involved in an accident with a scooter for whatever reason. For natural selection to work -- for example, selecting for people how have excellent back directed hearing capability, a significant percentage of the population would need to be run down by people sneaking up from behind on scooters. Without that significant environmental pressure, you won't see the evolution of the necessary sensory adaptation to avoid such accidents.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @02:11AM
Again you are getting it *wrong*. Close. But wrong.
Darwinism selects for suitability. If I can get creamed by a scooter and live I am suitable (it is a weird one but none the less). If I have the ability to not get hit in the first place I am also suitable (perhaps dodging is a desirable trait). The 'pressure' is the scooters and abuse of them. They weed out the weaker. Both riders and non riders.
Blind luck is absolutely involved in Darwinism.
You do not have to have total catastrophe to have Darwinism. Just a small pressure or custom changes on different things. Think about this. We are selecting for big boobed women. Why? We find it attractive. Hell women disguise themselves with boob jobs to attract mates. Now that is not true all the time but we still select for it. Being 'gay' will be taken out of gene pool fairly quickly at this point (within 2-3 generations). As it is now 'accepted' and 'open'. Those who choose that lifestyle will be less likely to breed. They will be deemed unsuitable. Darwinism does not necessarily work like moth example they teach in the text books. It takes time.
Darwinism is brutal and does not takes sides and is a patient master it rewards the most fit who breed the most fit offspring. The weaker are removed and the strong have a better chance in the long term. I could prove it out with simple geometric math if you like but I will leave it as an exercise to the reader.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday May 06 2019, @05:19PM
I don't see any fatalities in the article....
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Monday May 06 2019, @12:07AM
Natural selection is a tautology so it is true by definition. Whatever is most fit to survive is most fit to survive. If you survive, then you were fit, and vice versa. The survivors are most fit, and the most fit survive.
In this case, the people who know to or are able to dodge idiots on e-scooters are more fit than people who don't know to or are not able to dodge idiots on e-scooters.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @04:09PM
I'm glad the scooters are coming from the billion dollar companies though, because they would have the resources to study what kind of impact the scooters would have on quality of life for those that use them and those that are in the communities where they are deployed. Smaller non- billion dollar companies would not have the resources for that.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 05 2019, @05:07PM (3 children)
So, these scooters are transmitted like viruses?
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Sunday May 05 2019, @07:47PM (2 children)
Yes..cities catch them from venture capitalists.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @09:53PM
The venture capitalists are clever enough to destroy real competition. They pump capital into unprofitable industries that will never make a profit (Tesla motors) driving out those who do make a profit. Done for a long enough time the competition is killed, allowing the formerly unprofitable businesses to take over and make real profit. In fact, they plan on owning the market, doing as they please. Look at google/facebook for examples.
This is wrong and must be stopped through legislation (keep wishing).
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday May 06 2019, @09:51PM
Elected officials are the pimps, and the public gets no cut, just the diseases.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @05:07PM (7 children)
Millennials... the generation that thinks it is smart to ride e-scooters without a helmet because their YouTube influencers tell them it's not cool to wear helmets. Vote Pewdiepie!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @05:28PM (6 children)
Close... It is more like millennials who never learned any real world skills other than posting on social media sites. When I was a kid we never wore protective gear to ride a bicycle, it wasn't even available then. I never knew of anyone getting an injury worse than a scrape from a bike crash. Then came the helmet, elbow and knee pad rules. Soon after that, if a kid fell off his bike in grass it meant a trip to the emergency room and trauma counseling. And those people grew up to become the parents of the millennials. They had no chance with those parents.
(Score: 4, Informative) by hemocyanin on Sunday May 05 2019, @05:54PM (4 children)
I came up in the same time period as you -- totally feral, no safety gear -- and I agree with your sentiments about over-protection. That said, kids back then did bash their brains falling off bikes, it's just that since it is actually a pretty rare occurrence the chance that you or I would ever be impacted personally or know someone personally impacted was extremely small. There has to be a middle ground.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @06:03PM (3 children)
I hurt myself several times on a bike. Cracked my nuts on the center bar, scraped my leg when I fell off. When I first saw helmets, I wondered how someone would fall on their head unless being hit frontally by a car. Never rode in a racing attitude.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @06:33PM (1 child)
Me too .... until a dog run full speed into my front wheel out of nowhere, when I was going 30km/h ... you know, one of these idiotic border collies. 1 second later, I was flying sideways an fell sideways scrapping some parts... only later did I see my helmet got cracked.
So yeah, imagine what you want. The world may just surprise you with things you can't imagine. That's why there are helmets. That's why doctors see head injuries from idiots not wearing helmets are the leading cause of death and serious injury on bikes and related things.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @06:56PM
If only so many idiots didn't ride their bike without a flagman ahead and with ultrasonic whistles to scare dogs away, so many injuries that people still suffer through their helmets could be avoided.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @01:03AM
And nothing was lost.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday May 06 2019, @05:12PM
All the kids who died from traumatic brain injuries aren't around to tell us about them.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Sunday May 05 2019, @06:47PM (2 children)
People may not like how others travel, but the CDC using disease terminology to shame e-scooter riders simply stinks to me. An Epidemic? Its not like these crashed-riders didn't take the vaccine. They were going to crash anyhow, they simply didn't have a helmet on in their version of events. Would it be better if folks wore helmets? Sure.
What comes next after these types of outbursts though is usually a save the children campaign, regulations that may or may not ever be followed but will rack up fines for the CDC and laws at the local municipality based on shaming your neighbors. Without an idiot, some people have real problems navigating who they themselves are.
If the CDC can actually produce something other than documentation to back up mothers and fathers claims that their fears are completely founded that would be great, but with clickbait coming straight from them, I can't help be skeptical.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday May 05 2019, @09:19PM
Computer people say "not" a lot. And sometimes it's too much. You say, it's not like they didn't take the vaccine. Complicated way to say, they got the vaccine. But it didn't work. It doesn't always work. Nobody ever said it's 100%. They have to get the shots. The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now. They have to get their shots!!!
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Monday May 06 2019, @05:15PM
epidemic adjective
ep·i·dem·ic | \ ˌe-pə-ˈde-mik \
Definition of epidemic (Entry 1 of 2)
1 : affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time
typhoid was epidemic
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday May 05 2019, @08:00PM (1 child)
the CDC: trying to save Americans from their own suicidal and homicidal stupidity since 1946
People won't wear seatbelts, helmets, stay off scooters or out of cars while drunk..
https://www.cdc.gov/winnablebattles/report/motor.html [cdc.gov]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @08:44PM
Somewhere around 1970 the CDC had help, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) started doing similar things, but without the direct medical analogy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 05 2019, @10:04PM (4 children)
The coordinated campaign starts with the CDC and then the DOT gets involved and they make rules so that all vehicle bumpers are made of the thinnest plastic that can be manufactured so the flimsy scooter riders do not get hurt. Also, reducing the speed limit to that of walking pace... so that toy scooter riders can have their way.
It was done with real cars until all cars had similar bumpers, which would destroy themselves at the slightest hit. Now there are no more real cars left. All they do is make the passenger compartment stronger while making the rest of the car as fragile as possible. This makes sure any small accident causes the car to be scrapped and a new one has to be bought. This is premeditated fraud.
Death to all toy scooter riders. And death to all motorcyclists. If you do not like cars then you can die.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @12:42AM
> This makes sure any small accident causes the car to be scrapped and a new one has to be bought. This is premeditated fraud.
Given the number of sensors and other electronics/wires hanging out around the front bumper area, I was glad when a low speed accident (just fast enough to fire the airbag) resulted in our ~4 year old Passat being totaled. It was close, the insurance company almost chose to repair it, but I doubt that the car would have ever worked right after that.
Yes, we had collision/comprehensive insurance (in addition to the mandated NY State liability), so we only paid the deductable. The rest of the car was fine, so it was probably parted out after the insurance company auctioned it off.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @02:15AM
Peal off that plastic bumper and you will find something else under it. A real bumper. Usually welded into the frame and a trigger for the crumple zone. The bumper you see is a cosmetic skin. https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2639/3996607743_f505ff984d_o.jpg [flickr.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday May 06 2019, @05:21PM
What the CDC is ACTUALLY recommending is that we tell people to wear helmets....
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday May 06 2019, @10:01PM
I'm more cynical than most, but how about the idea that it's designed to save the people inside so they can live to buy another car ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @03:22AM
Let's see: Where I live, cars run through STOP signs all the time, to actually stop in the middle of every single marked crosswalk. I'm sure this behavior leads to many scooter accidents, but the CDC says the scooters are the ones who need to be more careful.
What about cops enforcing the f*ing traffic laws?