You may have seen the popularity of electronic scooters overtaking many California cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland. Sacramento may be next. Lately, the city has been discussing and getting ready for e-scooters to arrive. City officials have been working on establishing rules and regulations for e-scooters and electric bikes.
Dangers of E-Scooters
While e-scooters have provided a benefit for people to move around much easier, they have also been viewed as a public safety crisis due to the amount of injuries they are causing. E-scooters are so new that injury statistics are still being gathered, however, Salt Lake City and Dallas can provide a glimpse at what other cities considering e-scooters may be in for. In Salt Lake City, a hospital reported that they have seen a 161 percent increase in visits from people due to an injury suffered while riding an e-scooter. In Dallas, a 24-year-old man recently died due to suffering head trauma after an accident on an e-scooter.
Riding an E-Scooter
Renting an e-scooters is relatively easy. Users can get access to the scooter by using an app on their smartphone to unlock it for use. People using an e-scooter for the first time may only receive a small amount of information about how to ride and training may be relegated to a slide show on their phone.
E-scooters can travel up to 15-miles per hour and that can be more daunting for some riders than they realized. Some riders have been surprised at the initial acceleration of the e-scooters which have tossed some riders off before they even got started.
E-Scooter Injuries
Common injuries people have sustained while riding an e-scooter include broken bones, dislocations and sprains or lacerations. Many reports have shown that head injuries have also been very common, most of those patients said they were not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
If you are considering using an e-scooter, be aware of the risks and take precautions as necessary. If you suffer an injury, no matter how small, you should contact a personal injury attorney to discuss what options you have available.
