As the popularity of electronic scooters (also called e-scooters) skyrockets, University of Alberta safety experts are hoping to slow the accompanying rise in injuries by advocating for better regulation and rider education.
People in Edmonton hopped onto rental e-scooters more than a million times in 2023 according to city data, while more than 800 riders wound up in emergency departments with injuries according to numbers provided by Alberta Health Services to the media. Both statistics are roughly double what they were in 2022.
"The number of e-scooters has gone up significantly since they were first introduced in 2017, and I only see that getting larger because especially young people are going to look for easier ways to get around," says Kathy Belton, director of the U of A's Injury Prevention Centre and adjunct professor in the School of Public Health.
"The problem is there are no consistent safety rules and the ones that do exist are not enforced," Belton says. "It's like the Wild West."
Belton teamed up with emergency physician and professor Brian Rowe to carry out an observational study of e-scooter use in Edmonton this summer, tracking more than 2,000 trips and interviewing 200 riders. They hope to gain insight into the injury statistics Rowe and his team uncovered by looking at emergency department records for three summers, from 2019 to 2021.
Of 759 adult patients, 20 per cent arrived by ambulance and 62 per cent had multiple injuries, mostly to upper and lower limbs and the head. While only six per cent were admitted to hospital, nine per cent needed surgery. Only two per cent reported wearing a helmet, and alcohol or substance use was suspected in 25 per cent of the cases.
Three companies currently rent e-scooters in Edmonton, part of a pilot project allowed by an exemption under the Alberta Traffic Safety Act in Airdrie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Okotoks, Red Deer, Leduc, Edmonton and Calgary. Private scooters are technically illegal throughout the province, but the minister of transportation is expected to update the rules this fall.
In the meantime, it's up to each municipality to develop their own bylaws for e-scooters, leading to confusion for users. For example, you're not allowed to ride on the sidewalks in Edmonton, but you are in Red Deer and St. Albert. As for enforcement, it's almost nonexistent. Most municipalities have focused on education instead. The City of Edmonton reports handing out just 14 tickets during a blitz in 2021 and no tickets at all in the other four years of the rental program.
