You've probably seen people whizzing around on electric scooters downtown, and maybe you thought, "That looks like a serious head injury waiting to happen." Well, you're not entirely wrong, but overall, officials say that scooters in Austin aren't putting a strain on the community or local EMS system.
From July through September, Austin-Travis County EMS estimates there were 48 accidents involving e-scooters, out of the 29,423 patients they saw in this time period. Mountain Electric Bicycle
In the same period, Austinites took 725,700 trips on the scooters, for a total of 754,658 miles with an average speed of 6 miles per hour, according to figures presented by EMS officials Monday to the city's Public Safety Committee.
For the entirety of last fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, EMS responded to 169 incidents involving a scooter. Most of those incidents resulted in a trip to the hospital, but only eight were a "Code 3," which is a serious injury.
"It's important to note that e-scooter accidents are a very minimal impact on the community and on our EMS system," EMS Division Chief Kevin Parker said during the presentation on Monday. "The majority of the cases are only impacting the person riding the scooter. They're not having a larger impact to bystanders or other people who may be around them."
Additionally, Parker said e-scooters can be beneficial to the EMS system, as they keep people off the roads in vehicles and can allow emergency vehicles to travel through downtown more easily.
Most injuries are clustered in the downtown area, and a majority happen between midnight and 3 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday, when people frequent bars and clubs.
Authorities in August warned that summer months typically see a spike in head injuries from people drinking and driving scooters. Parker said most injuries for the past year were head or face injuries.
Chinese Factory Leisure Tricycle with Electric Three Wheels To cut down on injuries, Parker suggested people wear helmets when riding scooters and call a rideshare service if they've been drinking.