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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.
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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.