Story by Gareth Corfield
E-scooter riders face a higher risk of brain injuries than cyclists or motorcyclists if they fall off, research suggests.
Riders are 3.5 times more likely to suffer a brain injury, claims a study by surgeon David Bodansky and a team of British experts.
They analyzed data for 15,247 patients who had been listed in the national major trauma registry after suffering moderate or severe injuries. These included 580 e-scooters riders, just over 7,000 motorcyclists and 7,740 bicycle riders.
Each person featured in the data needed hospital treatment following incidents between 2020 and 2022 in 18 cities across England and Wales.
Each had moderate to severe injuries after incidents, while 87.9 per cent of e-scooter riders were aged over 18.
Compared with motorcyclists, those who used e-scooters faced a 3.5 times higher risk of a traumatic brain injury, a 1.5 times higher risk of injuring their internal organs, and a 3.2 times higher risk of injuries to the arteries or veins.
Less helmet use
The risk was 1.7, 1.4 and 1.7 times higher respectively when compared with cyclists.
Hemet use was documented in 5.9 per cent of e-scooter riders compared with around three quarters of motorcyclists and 45 per cent of cyclists.
However, fracture risk for e-scooter riders was 20 per cent lower than motorcyclists and 10 per cent lower than cyclists.
Just over one in 10 of e-scooter users in the study were children, who the experts found were more likely to be seriously injured.
The team separately analysed more than 23,000 self-reported e-scooter collisions and near misses.
This showed that men had a 36 per cent lower risk of crashing than women.
Women were also 2.1 times more likely to be severely injured.
Growing popularity
E-scooters are available to rent as part of government trial schemes in cities such as Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham and a number of London boroughs.
However, it is illegal to use privately owned e-scooters in public.
Despite this, researchers said e-scooters “are increasingly used” across the UK but there was limited evidence about “injury patterns, severity and exposure-adjusted risk”.
Looking at both sets of data allowed “revealed previously under-explored trends” and socioeconomic factors, researchers said, such as incidents being more common in deprived regions.
Researchers said the findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, “emphasise the need for policies that address … e-scooter safety to prevent avoidable harm”.
Health evidence ‘critical’
The latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures show there were 1,312 collisions involving e-scooters in 2024, up from 1,292 in 2023. There were 1,390 casualties and six people killed.
“Electric scooters have evolved rapidly from novelty devices to a common form of urban mobility,” researchers said.
“As e-scooter adoption expands across Europe, embedding rigorous public health evidence into forthcoming UK legislation will be critical to ensure that the benefits of micromobility are realised while minimising avoidable harm.”
A DfT spokesman said: “These are concerning findings. Road safety is our top priority, which is why our e-scooter trials are testing their use in a controlled environment now, before updating the law to ensure they can be used safely more widely.”
Anthony Browne
E-scooters are a ticket to freedom.
