• Posted December 10, 2024

Teens, Booze and E-Scooters: A Rising Threat as Injuries Crowd ERs

Inebriated e-scooter and e-bike users, many of them teens, are increasingly showing up in the nation's emergency rooms, new research shows.

Overall, rates of injuries from these "micromobility" devices have tripled in recent years -- from close to 23,000 in 2019 to nearly 66,000 by 2022, the new study found.

Alcohol use was a factor in many of the injuries, and rates of use were highest among teens and college-age males, reported a team from North Dakota State University, in Fargo.

Driving while intoxicated is a crime even when the vehicle is an e-scooter, so "there is a need to enforce the law against the use of alcohol and substance use among these adolescents," especially, said researchers led by Akshaya Bhagavathula. He's an associate professor of public health at the university.

Bhagavathula's team published its findings Dec. 9 in the journal Injury Prevention.

Especially during and after the pandemic, the popularity of e-scooters and e-bikes soared as a means of transport.

However, accidents can happen on these small two-wheeled vehicles.

The Fargo team looked at federal data for 2019 through 2022 for these types of injuries treated at ERs in over 100 hospitals nationwide.

During that time, a total of 4,020 injuries linked to micromobility devices were recorded at the hospitals -- 3,700 linked to e-scooters and 320 tied to e-bike use.

Extrapolated to the U.S. population as a whole, that would be the equivalent of almost 280,000 e-scooter injuries and 16,600 e-bike injuries nationwide. 

The authors believe e-scooters are linked to far more injuries than e-bikes because e-scooters' smaller wheels make falling off the devices more likely.

Teen and college-age men are the most likely victims of a micromobility vehicle accident, the study also found.

Men were much more likely to be injured than women, and 80% of males involved in e-scooter/e-bike injuries were white and between the ages of 18 to 39.

Too often, booze or other substances played a role.

According to a journal news release, "Alcohol use was implicated in 327 of all the e-scooter and e-bike injuries; substance use was implicated in 116; and both alcohol and substance use were implicated in 39."

This was far more common in younger patients.

“Younger individuals are more likely to be intoxicated, and this impairs their mental and physical health, leading them to engage in risky activities while riding these micromobility devices that can result in injuries,” the researchers said.

Legs and heads were the most common body parts injured in e-scooter/e-bike injuries where alcohol was involved.

The bottom line, according to the researchers: “Our findings emphasize the critical and pressing issue of alcohol and substance use in relation to e-scooter and e-bike injuries."

More information

Find out more about the dangers of micromobility devices at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

SOURCE: Injury Prevention, news release, Dec. 9, 2024