Back to the Real Salt Lake Newsfeed

Electric scooters send more people to the hospital than bicycles and walking, new study finds

Over a one-year period in two Los Angeles emergency departments, more people were injured while riding standing electric scooters than by riding bicycles or traveling on foot, according to the results of a groundbreaking new study.

Documenting injury statistics from September 2017 to August 2018, the study published this week in the medical journal JAMA Network Open found that many of those injuries were serious in nature, if not severe.

Of the 249 patients who received treatment for scooter-related injuries, nearly 28 percent suffered contusions, sprains and lacerations. About 30 percent had fractures, and just over 40 percent were treated for head injuries, the study found.