A single Melbourne hospital had almost 250 injured e-scooter riders taken its emergency department with injuries last year, with intoxication, speed and not wearing a helmet the biggest risk factors.
A study at the Royal Melbourne hospital revealed it had seen 247 riders and nine pedestrians due to e-scooter crashes last year. Two-thirds of the injured riders were not wearing helmets, while just over one-third said they had been drinking.
Of the hospitalisations, 21 experienced major trauma and one later died from a brain injury.
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The study, which estimated the total hospital cost to be $1.9m, has sparked calls by senior emergency department doctors for tighter regulations on scooters to prevent debilitating injuries and death.
Dr Sarah Whitelaw, an emergency physician from Australian Medical Association Victoria, said the figures were confronting.
She said face and head injuries were common and could leave people with “functional lifelong scars”.
“It’s heartbreaking for us to hear from our patients that they just had no idea they could get so badly injured,” she said on Wednesday.
“These e-scooter injuries are on top of the motor vehicle accidents, so they’re not replacing injuries – they’re adding to the burden on the health system.”
Half of those who went to the hospital suffered injuries to their head, face or neck, and most patients were young – with an average age of 29 – and male (68%).
Almost 89% of injuries came from riders falling off their scooter.
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Whitelaw said the Royal Melbourne hospital was still recording a significant number of e-scooter injuries in its emergency department, about 30 to 40 a month.
“If you consider that across the whole of Australia, it’s quite horrifying,” she said.
“The fact that these are potentially preventable injuries and they are taking up the time and hospital beds when we have such a huge elective surgery backlog.”
Victoria’s e-scooter trial began in February 2022, with 1,500 Lime and Neuron vehicles initially deployed across three council areas – Melbourne, Port Phillip and Yarra. The trial was extended for a third time in October and the state legalised private e-scooters on public roads in March.
The study did not specify if injuries were from rides using hired scooters or privately owned scooters.
Injures at Royal Melbourne hospital jumped from five in February 2022 to 40 in December last year.
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2023-12-19 22:26:26
Article from www.theguardian.com
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