Motorized vehicles are among the many leading causes of death by injury, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting that road traffic accidents comprised over a fifth of all fatal injuries in 2015. Internationally,  over 30,000 people suffer serious injuries from such accidents on daily basis.

Electric scooters (e-scooters) have been linked to an increased risk of harm. A brand new research paper published within the journal JAMA Network Open looks on the impact of nighttime speed limits on injury risk related to e-scooters.

Study: Association of Nighttime Speed Limits and Electric Scooter–Related Injuries. Image Credit: r.classen / Shutterstock

Introduction

Since their introduction in lots of countries, e-scooters have been related to high injury statistics, especially to the pinnacle and face. Specifically, nighttime driving of e-scooters, or driving drunk or illegal substances, has been found to be related to injury risk in a considerable proportion of cases.

In attempts to cut back the toll from road traffic accidents, the protected system approach has been advocated. This features a recognition of the potential for human error as a reason for accidents and aspects within the human susceptibility to serious injury in such situations. Adaptations designed into the driving system to account for these risk aspects include protected roads, protected speeds, protected vehicles, and protected curbs, amongst others.

Increases in mean vehicle speeds are linked on to higher odds of crashes and serious crash-related injuries. For example, at 1% higher speeds, the chance of a fatal crash goes up 4%. Serious crashes grow to be 3% more probable.

People hit by a automobile while walking on the road are 4.5 times more more likely to die if the automobile is moving at 65 kph vs. 50 kph. If two cars moving at 65 kph swipe one another sidewise, the chance that the occupants will die is 85%.

User databases haven’t been exploited to reach on the incidence of e-scooter injuries in prior studies.

In accordance with the protected system approach, nighttime driving speed limits have been imposed as a possible approach to reducing the frequency of such injuries amongst e-scooter riders. Nonetheless, the evaluation of the effectiveness of such measures isn’t based on actual user data. The present study aimed to fill in a few of these research gaps.

What did the study show?

The study included all patients admitted to the emergency department of a Finnish hospital throughout the period between April 24, 2019, and September 30, 2022. This hospital captures all emergency trauma cases in a population of 550,000.

In 2022, e-scooter corporations set electronic limits on scooter speed at 15 km/hour between 12 am and 6 am. Nighttime e-scooter-related injuries in the summertime of 2022, between June 1 and August 31, were subsequently in comparison with those of other years to evaluate the impact of speed limits on such injuries.

There have been 3.6 million e-scooter rides covering 7.3 million km. Over 650 patients were identified with e-scooter injuries throughout the summers of the years 2019-2022. The typical incidence of injury was 18.4 per 100,000 rides, with 9 injuries per 100,000 km of driving.

The incidence of injury was lower in 2019 and 2021-22, at ~17 per 100,000 rides, increasing. It was highest in 2020, at 25 per 100,000 rides.

Rides became shorter over time, doubling the mean incidence of injury per 100,000 km, from 5.6 to 10.4, from 2019 to 2022.

What are the implications?

That is the primary study to explore the associations between nighttime speed restrictions and e-scooter-related injuries. “The outcomes from our study could be used as reference values to judge the efficacy of latest interventions.”

The scientists found, from the user database of e-scooter riders, that there was no reduction within the incidence of injury with a lowering of nighttime speed. Other measures would require to be worked out to cut back injuries linked to e-scooters.