Top Line
Sales of small electric vehicles have soared amid efforts to cut air pollution and reduce the number of cars on the road, but injuries and hospitalizations caused by e-bikes and e-scooters have soared in recent years, according to a new study released Tuesday.
Researchers say there has been a sharp increase in injuries involving e-scooters and e-bikes in the United States since 2017.
Key Facts
According to a peer-reviewed study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, the number of injuries caused by electric bicycles (e-bikes) is doubling each year, from 751 in 2017 to 23,493 by 2022.
The researchers found that injuries caused by electric scooters (e-scooters) increased by 45% over the same period, from 8,566 in 2017 to 56,847 in 2022.
The findings, the first to examine recent injury patterns from light electric vehicles in the United States, came from an analysis of emergency department data collected by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which included factors such as the driver’s age, type of injury, whether they were wearing a helmet, and whether they had consumed alcohol, according to the researchers.
The researchers found that e-scooter riders were more likely to suffer internal organ injuries than traditional riders, and that injuries to the upper extremities, including the arms, wrists, and hands, were more common among traditional scooter riders, adding that the risk of other types of injuries, such as neurological, head, and orthopedic injuries, did not differ significantly between e-scooter riders and traditional scooter riders.
The researchers also found that injured electric vehicle drivers tended to be older than conventional drivers, with the average age of injured e-bike and e-scooter drivers being 39 and 30 years, respectively, compared with 30 and 11 years for injured conventional bicycle and scooter drivers, respectively.
They are also more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as drinking and driving without a helmet. “Additional safety measures and structural changes are urgently needed to promote safe driving,” said co-lead author Adrian Fernandez, MD, chief urology resident at UCSF.
How can you make riding an e-bike or e-scooter safer?
Accidents involving conventional and small electric vehicles overwhelmingly occurred in urban areas, and the researchers said the increase in accidents “likely reflects the growing popularity of these vehicles.” The rise of public shared vehicles and mobility platforms has also increased dramatically during the study period, making electric vehicles more accessible in urban areas, the researchers said. The researchers said their findings, which mirror those from other countries such as the Netherlands and Israel, highlight important differences in riding behavior between people who use electric vehicles such as e-bikes and e-scooters and those who use conventional bicycles and scooters, and underscore the need for a range of changes in law, policy, education and infrastructure to “refocus the use of these vehicles on safety” and make riding safer.
Main Background
The use of small electric vehicles is booming in the United States. Sales of electric bikes alone are expected to more than triple between 2019 and 2022, with the market expected to reach approximately $2.6 billion as of late 2023. Governments around the world are encouraging people to adopt the technology to reduce congestion caused by automobiles and contribute to meeting climate change emission targets. However, it is not without problems, and cities are struggling to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape in which bikes are shared, more common, and can be left anywhere. Bikes are faster than traditional devices, with some reaching speeds of nearly 30 miles per hour (though local speed limits may be set lower). Ensuring adequate infrastructure for charging and fixing bikes has proven particularly problematic, with many cities struggling with e-bikes and e-scooters littering the streets, which has sometimes created friction between traditional and new e-cyclists on the roads. Policies regulating the use of e-bikes have also not kept up with the uptake, with lawmakers questioning whether old laws regulating bikes and scooters are the appropriate means to govern the new vehicles. Despite their growing popularity, traditional bicycles and scooters still far outnumber e-bikes: During the same study period, there were about 2.5 million bicycle injuries and more than 300,000 scooter injuries, compared with about 46,000 e-bike injuries and 190,000 e-scooter injuries.
Contra
While injuries from e-bike use may be on the rise, there are also many health benefits. Directly, e-bike use encourages riders to exercise more, and exercise is well-known to improve overall health and reduce the risk of many health conditions, including anxiety, depression, diabetes, heart disease, and many cancers. E-bikes also have a significantly lower environmental impact than cars, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants that can directly harm health (air pollution is linked to illnesses such as asthma, stroke, and heart disease). They also contribute to climate change, which studies have shown can shorten lifespans by months, cause deadly heatwaves, undermine mental health, and potentially spark future pandemics.
What we don’t know
The researchers said their findings likely underestimate the frequency of injuries among riders because some patients may be reluctant to seek medical care or may seek medical care in settings not included in the emergency department analysis. Other experts have speculated that e-bike accidents may be classified as routine accidents in hospitals, which would further skew the data.
References
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