Incidence and severity of electric scooter related injuries after introduction of an urban rental programme in Vienna: a retrospective multicentre study

Abstract

Purpose: Electric scooters (e-scooters) are an emerging way of mobility in cities around the world. Despite quickly rising numbers of e-scooters, limited studies report on incidence and severity of e-scooter-associated injuries. The aim of our study was to report on these injuries and identify potential protective measures to ultimately decrease e-scooter-associated morbidity.

Methods: We performed a retrospective multicentre study including all patients, who were admitted to three major trauma departments in Vienna from May 2018 to September 2019. We analysed patients' data, including demographics, injury pattern, types of injury and subsequent treatment.

Results: A total number of 175 patients (115 males, 60 females) sustained e-scooter-associated injuries. Patients' mean age was 34.4 years [4-74]. While the mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 3.4, 11 patients presented with an ISS ≥ 9 and 2 patients with an ISS ≥ 16. ISS increased with age. Older patients (≥ 40 years) presented a significantly higher ISS than younger patients (< 40 years) (P = 0.011). Seventy-one patients (40.6%) sustained major injuries affecting head (35.2%) and upper extremities (36.6%). Twenty-three patients (13.1%) required surgery leading to hospitalization of 11 days on average [1-115]. E-scooter-associated injuries increased during late afternoon plateauing at 8.00 pm. However, the largest share of patients (39.2%) sustained their injuries during early night (8.00 pm to 1.59 am) with especially young adults (19-39 years) being at risk.

Conclusion: The popularity of rideshare e-scooters across cities worldwide seems to be on the rise, so are e-scooter-associated injuries. These injuries should be considered high-energy trauma affecting primarily head and upper extremity; indeed, 17.7% sustained major head injuries. Therefore, the mandatory use of a helmet seems to be adequate to decrease head injury-associated morbidity. Ultimately, given the remarkably high rates of nighttime injuries, an e-scooter ban during night could further cut injury numbers in half.

Keywords: Electric scooter; Emergency department; Epidemiology; Fracture; Head injury; Injury pattern; Injury prevention; Injury severity; Retrospective study; Scooter share; Trauma; Trend sport.

Fig. 1

Bargraph illustrating the increase of e-scooter-associated injuries in Vienna from 2018 to 2019 after the implementation of e-scooter sharing programmes

Fig. 2

Distribution of injuries in terms of anatomic location and severity

Fig. 3

a Scatterplot illustrating the significant relationship between age and ISS (P < 0.001, R = 0.325). b Box plot showing the significantly higher ISS Scores of adults ≥ 40 years compared to patients < 40 years irrespective of sex. *Significant difference (P ≤ 0.05). c Box plot showing that patients with an ISS ≥ 9 were significantly older than patients ISS < 9 (P = 0.027). *Significant difference (P ≤ 0.05)

Fig. 4

a Distribution of the rate of injuries in respect of the time of injury. b Line chart illustrating the different rates of injuries of the three classified age groups (adolescents, young adults and older adults) over the course of the day