Electric scooters | Injuries increasing across the country

(Toronto) The Canadian Information on Health Institute (ICIS). Therefore, indicates that injuries related to electric scooters are increasing across the country. For example,

“We have considered it essential to shed light on this important subject. For example, since the regulations vary considerably from one province or from one territory to another,” said Tanya Khan, head of the ICIS team responsible for the progress and mobilization of hospital data. Moreover,

The data indicates a 32 % increase in hospitalizations linked to electric scooters in Canada over a period of one year. Moreover, going from 375 in 2022-2023 to 498 in 2023-2024. Meanwhile,

The data. Similarly, published Thursday, indicate that hospitalizations linked to electric scooters in children aged 5 to 17 increased by 61 %, from 33 to 53, during this period. In addition,

ICIS added that hospitalizations in men of all ages increased by 22 % during this year, from 267 to 325. However,

The increase was even more marked in women of all ages, with an increase of 60 %, from 114 to 182 hospitalizations. Furthermore,

The data shows that the majority of hospitalizations linked to electric scooters have taken place in Ontario. However, electric scooters | injuries increasing Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia. Moreover,

The D^r Daniel Rosenfield. For example, a pediatric urgentist at Sickkids Hospital in Toronto, said that the number of children and adolescents presenting themselves in the emergency room with injuries related to electric scooters has increased in the past five years and that some have been “catastrophic”, including the death of a 13 -year -old boy in 2023. For example,

“We see everything. scratches, minor cuts and small lacerations requiring a few stitches of head trauma, internal hemorrhages with chest and abdomen, passing through the open fractures which must be treated in the operating room,” he detailed.

Some children aged four to six injured themselves by driving an electric scooter with their parents. said the D^r Rosenfield, but injuries in adolescents circulating alone are more frequent. electric scooters | injuries increasing

Among the cases for which information is available. 80 % of drivers who are in the emergency room do not carry a helmet, he said.

Electric scooters | injuries increasing

Motorized vehicles perceived as toys

For Daniel Rosenfield. the increase in the number of injuries is linked to the growing popularity and accessibility of electric scooters in recent years, as well as an ignorance of their dangerousness.

“These scooters, like everything that is electrified these days, have seen their price drop and their power increase,” he said. Their acceleration and torque are exceptional. And most parents, when they buy these devices from their children, are absolutely not aware. »»

The children injured themselves by falling from their electric scooter. commented the doctor, but electric scooters | injuries increasing the most serious injuries occur when they hit a car, a truck or a vehicle.

Pamela Fuselli. President and CEO of parachute, a charity focused on injury prevention, pointed out that laws concerning electric scooters vary according to the provinces and even municipalities.

In Ontario, drivers must be at least 16 years old. But in Toronto, electric scooters are not allowed on public roads. In Oshawa, east of the city, they are authorized as part of a pilot program.

Electric scooters are often available for rental. The website of the city of Vancouver, for example, presents them as “an accessible and durable way to move and explore Vancouver”. Drivers must be 16 or over and cannot exceed 25 km/h.

Obviously, people use electric scooters everywhere, whether electric scooters | injuries increasing authorized or not, noted M^me Fuses.

“Even if a city has a regulation on this subject. it can regulate what is used in public spaces, but this must then be applied. It cannot really regulate what is sold. »»

Children under the age of 16 should not use electric scooters. by the opinion of M^me Fuselli, and parents should not buy them for their younger children.

“It looks like toys, but they are actually motorized vehicles,” she said.

The D^r Rosenfield added that. even if children can also injure themselves by driving non -electric scooters, in particular by breaking their bones and injuring themselves with the head if they do not wear a helmet, “we compare apples and oranges” in terms of safety.

“The speed that a young child can reach (on a scooter) is a maximum of 5 to 10 kilometers an hour. ” he pointed out, stressing that his emergency service does not tend to see the “catastrophic injuries” which he notes with electric scooters.

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