Bottom Line: Nearly 250 patients ended up at two Southern California emergency departments with injuries associated with standing electric scooter use and few riders were wearing helmets. This observational study used medical record review to examine injuries associated with standing electric scooter use over a one-year period; 228 patients were injured as riders and 21 as nonriders. Nearly 11 percent of riders were younger than 18 and only about 4 percent of riders were documented as wearing helmets. Fractures, head injuries and soft-tissue injuries were the most common. Nearly all patients were discharged from the emergency department but 15 were admitted, including two with severe heard injuries. The authors suggest their findings may help to inform public policy around standing electric scooter use, a growing and cheap mode of transportation.
authors: Tarak K. Trivedi, M.D., M.S., University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, and coauthors
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.7381)
Editor's Note: The article contains funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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