E-scooters with a bike at the Teneriffe ferry terminal in Brisbane. Photo: ANDREW KACIMAIWAI
E-scooter riders in Queensland as young as five are sustaining increasingly serious injuries prompting calls for a minimum-age restrictions.
And there are calls for better safety regulations involving their use nationally.
The call was made by medical officials after a two-year study involving Sunshine Coast Hospital showed almost 180 riders under 16 required hospital treatment over two years.
Their new research was just published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health and looked at paediatric e-scooter injury data in an Australian region.
They say they documented 176 e-scooter injuries in children and teens aged 5–15 years old at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in 2023 and 2024.
STUDY HIGHLIGHTS
- 1-in-10 e-scooter injuries were life threatening or potentially life threatening while 37% of cases involved a fracture.
- 42% of cases were children or teens who didn’t wear a helmet at the time of their accident.
- 36% of cases involved speeds greater than 25kmh and 12% involved doubling (two riders).
- 13% of cases involved collisions with cars.
- 8% of cases involved other e-scooters or mobility devices.
- 71% of patients were male with a median age of 14 (range was 5 to 15 years).
Lead author Dr Matthew Clanfield, who worked at the hospital during the study period, says he is worried by the frequency and range of injuries that he saw.
“While working at the hospital, we would see a child or teen attend the emergency department with e-scooter injury every few days,” he says.
“The types of injuries ranged from minor fractures and injuries to traumatic brain injuries requiring a craniotomy.
“A lot of the parents attending were extremely upset to see their child hospitalised and weren’t aware how risky e-scooters can be or the legal requirement for supervision under 16,” he says.
“It was previously uncommon to see 14-year-olds in our ED but during the two-year study period scooters were the reason for 1 in 30 emergency visits within this age group.
“It’s extremely concerning that young people are using these vehicles for fun and leisure and ending up in hospital as a result,” Dr Clanfield says.
State law allows children aged 12–15 to ride e-scooters only if they are supervised by an adult and only Qld and ACT allow their use by under-16-year-olds.
Dr Clanfield wants a minimum age of 16 to be enforced in Queensland with speed limits of 25kmh on roads, 12kmh on walkways and no doubling.
The Queensland Government says it will hold a public inquiry into e-scooters and other mobility devices.
NATIONAL APPROACH ‘NEEDED’
Adjunct Prof Terry Slevin, CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, says e-scooters are a public health and safety concern and laws have failed badly to keep pace with their use.
“We understand that e-scooters can be a fun and convenient way to travel but unfortunately the way they are being used now, particularly by teens and children at high speeds, are proving a genuine public health risk and injury prevention issue,” he says.
“This is an issue in every town and city where they have landed across Australia, including in busier areas … we are looking at thousands of preventable injuries as well as lives lost. It is the tip of the iceberg.”
(The Journal is the official publication of the Public Health Association of Australia.)
