|
 The authors analyzed emergency department data collected from 2000
to 2017 by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission's
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), on injuries
involving all three types of vehicles.
While people riding e-bikes were more likely to suffer internal
injuries and be hospitalized compared to the other riders, powered
scooter users had higher rates of concussion. E-bike injuries were
also more than three times as likely to involve a collision with a
pedestrian than either scooter or traditional bike injuries, the
researchers report in the journal Injury Prevention.
"We don't know a lot about the overall risks and benefits of
electric-powered scooters and e-bikes," Charles DiMaggio, the
study's lead author, said in an email.
Most significantly, the study found injuries from e-bikes in
particular were more serious, said DiMaggio, who directs the injury
research program in the division of trauma and surgical critical
care at NYU Langone Health in New York City.
Of more than 245 million injuries reported in the study period,
130,797 involved powered-scooter accidents, accounting for 5.3 per
10,000 U.S. emergency department injuries. There were 3,075 e-bike
injuries, or 0.13 per 10,000. In addition, about 9.4 million pedal
bicycle injuries accounted for 385.4 per 10,000 of all emergency
department injuries.
People injured by e-bikes were older, averaging 31.9 years old
compared with 29.4 years with powered scooters and 25.2 years with
traditional bikes.
Indeed, the largest proportion of people involved in e-bike
accidents were in the 18-44 and 45-64 age groups, the authors note.
Ten-to-14-year-olds made up the largest group of those injured with
powered scooters.
Males were more likely to be injured overall, accounting for 83.3%
of e-bike injuries, 60% with powered scooters and 72.4% with pedal
bicycles.
Powered scooter accidents were nearly three times more likely to
result in concussions than e-bike injuries, and more likely to
result in fractures.
[to top of second column] |
But 17% of e-bike accident victims suffered internal injuries
compared to about 7.5% for both powered scooters and pedal bikes.
"With the power assist engaged, e-bikes are capable of speeds well
over 20 miles an hour," DiMaggio pointed out.
"By contrast, average speeds for more traditional bikes like the New
York City (rental) Citi Bikes are less than 10 miles an hour. This
near-doubling of potential speeds may be why e-bike injuries can be
more serious," he said.
This, and the lack of proper biking infrastructure.
Anne Lusk, a research scientist at Harvard Chan School of Public
Health in Boston, who has worked on bicycle environments for 38
years, said the study findings could be used to inform how to design
the built-environment to increase safety for e-bike and scooter
users, cyclists, pedestrians and car drivers.
"Climate change has been elevated to emergency status, and solutions
include encouraging people to walk and bike," Lusk said. "But, the
biking environment is not safe."
For example, Lusk said, in the absence of bike lanes,
powered-scooter users were riding on sidewalks and roads.
There is potential for greener alternatives to traditional
transportation, DiMaggio said.
"With that potential comes the need to introduce them in a safe and
responsible manner, asking questions about possible need for urban
design and built environment modifications like docking stations or
dedicated lanes, policy changes mandating helmets and education
initiatives."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2MbYxFA Injury Prevention, online November
11, 2019.
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
