Costs of Electric Scooter Trauma Soaring

Overview:

New study: the soaring number AND COST of electric scooter trauma patients.

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A new study has put numbers to a phenomenon every Level 1 trauma center is experiencing—the soaring number AND COST of electric scooter trauma patients.

This new study from the University of Colorado and the Level 1 trauma center at the Denver Health Department of Orthopaedics, titled “Electric Scooter-related Injuries Are Becoming More Frequent and Costly in Denver, CO,” appears in the February 1, 2025, edition of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

Co-author Alexander Lauder, M.D., associate chair of the Denver Health Department of Orthopaedics and associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, explained the genesis of this study to OTW, “In 2019 we started noticing more and more injuries related to e-scooter use. We decided to investigate what was going on.”

“In our first investigation, we looked at the epidemiology related to e-scooter injuries in terms of fracture pattern, injury severity scores, and admission rates to determine how many of these patients were obtaining severe injuries.”

“Last year, we wanted to see the trends in changes over the five years that they have been used in Denver; specifically, how has the epidemiology changed? What are the associated hospital charges? What circumstances were associated with an increased frequency of injury/higher hospital charges?”

Study Design and Results

The Colorado research team identified 2,424 patients who experienced e-scooter-related injuries (58% [1,405] men, 42% [1,019] women, median age 30 years [25 to 37 years]). They found that between 2020 and 2023, the number of scooter related injuries essentially tripled.

2020: 273
2021: 736
2022: 758
2023: 657 (10 months)

The Cost of Electric Scooter Injuries

Between 2020 to 2023, the mean annual sum of hospital charges for treatment of e-scooter-related injuries was $10.4 million:

$6.4 million in 2020,
$11.5 million in 2021,
$11.9 million in 2022, and
$10.9 million in 2023 (10 months).

Hospital charges associated with orthopedic e-scooter-related injuries amounted to a mean annual sum of $3.6 million over the four-year study period; $1.5 million in 2020, $3.9 million in 2021, $4.5 million in 2022, and $4.1 million in 2023 (only 10 months).

Alcohol, Weed and Electric Scooters – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The team found that 45% (1,098) of all e-scooter-related injuries occurred between 7 PM and 3 AM, and 44% (1,064) of them occurred over the weekend.

The cost of treating e-scooter-related injuries is higher at night. Why? Because costs are more than twice as high for intoxicated (or toasted) patients ($13,404 [$10,346 to $22,525]) versus those who were not ($6,132 [$2,612 to $13,620]).

“We found that the frequency of e-scooter-related injuries has increased nearly fivefold over the past five years, and the mean annual hospital charges to treat patients with these injuries have more than doubled,” Dr. Lauder told OTW.

“The most frequent injuries occurred late at night and on the weekends for both men and women. Injuries that occurred during nighttime hours or while the operator was under the influence of alcohol were associated with higher hospital charges for treatment. The results of the current study would suggest that a policy restricting nighttime e-scooter use in Denver, Colorado, could potentially reduce associated injuries by nearly 45%.”

“We are somewhat torn in publishing these results as e-scooters offer an efficient and cost-effective option for public transportation. That said, many riders look to e-scooters late at night or while intoxicated—times when they are less visible on the road and probably should not be operating them. Our study and numerous others published around the world highlight e-scooters as a public health issue which are resulting in significant impacts to health care systems.”

No Clear Rules for Electric Scooter Use

OTW asked Dr. Lauder about the rules for electric scooter use, “The rules governing the use of scooters widely vary depending upon city and the rules are often not clear to riders. Currently, patrons are permitted to operate e-scooters without specific licensing, share roads with motor vehicles using the bike lane, proceed through stop signs without stopping, and continue through red lights after a brief stop once the user assesses it to be ‘safe’ to do so¹.”

“Additionally, some states have eliminated the need for safety precautions such as helmet use². According to e-scooter riders, the road traffic legislature currently guiding e-scooter operation is inadequate and often misunderstood³. These reports demonstrate the need for increased public awareness, clarification of current traffic laws, and public safety initiatives that address the dangers of e-scooter use to reduce injury.”

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