{"id":141166,"date":"2025-10-23T19:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/141166\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T19:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:19:08","slug":"doctors-call-for-regulations-as-e-scooter-injuries-present-growing-challenge-to-healthcare-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/141166\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors call for regulations as e-scooter injuries present \u2018growing challenge to healthcare\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish doctors have called for \u201cprioritisation\u201d of further e-scooter regulations after a new study found there was a year-on-year increase in injuries related to the motorised vehicles, creating a \u201cgrowing challenge to healthcare\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since May 2024, e-scooters have been legal on Irish roads, but they must weigh 25 kilos or less and have a maximum speed of 20km per hour or less.<\/p>\n

They are increasingly being used by commuters for convenience and to avoid traffic congestion.<\/p>\n

A study, published in the latest issue of the Irish Medical Journal<\/a> on Thursday, found e-scooter related injuries \u201crepresent a significant and growing burden on trauma and emergency care systems\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the analysis of data from the Mater hospital<\/a> in Dublin<\/a>, there were 380 patients treated for e-scooter injuries in 2021-2023.<\/p>\n

The majority (259) of these patients were men, with 59 per cent aged 20-39.<\/p>\n

Eight per cent of incidents or 29 patients related to a pedestrian being struck by an e-scooter, while one third of patients required transport to the hospital by ambulance.<\/p>\n

There were 173 presentations at the hospital\u2019s emergency department related to e-scooter injuries between July 1st, 2021 and June 30th, 2022. This rose to 207 during the same period in the following year.<\/p>\n

There was also an increase in presentations highlighted during July, August and September in both years, the analysis found.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0E-scooters perceived as most dangerous form of transport in Ireland, report findsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Most of these patients (86 per cent) were discharged from the emergency department, with 44 per cent of those requiring follow-up care. The authors said this suggested that, \u201cwhile the mechanism of injury often appeared severe, many injuries were ultimately less critical\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, the study found that 53 of these patients required admission to hospital, and 43 of these patients required surgery. <\/p>\n

The admitted patients required a total of 294 hospital days, with an average length of stay of 5.5 days.<\/p>\n

Ten patients were admitted to critical care, and there was one reported fatality of a pedestrian with a traumatic brain injury who was struck by an e-scooter.<\/p>\n

The authors of the study said e-scooter injuries \u201cmore frequently involve the head and upper extremities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe injury patterns leads to higher rates of injuries requiring admission and surgery, compared to those seen in bicycle-related trauma,\u201d the study added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk associated with e-scooter use cannot be overstated and careful thought and regulation about rider safety must be prioritised beyond current minimal provisions. Further, proposals for unregulated e-scooter rental availability present a very serious public health risk when late-night use is considered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors called for \u201cimproved safety measures\u201d including public awareness campaigns, helmet mandates and improvements in infrastructure to \u201creduce injury severity\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish doctors have called for \u201cprioritisation\u201d of further e-scooter regulations after a new study found there was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[52,18,135,475,474,19,17,83539],"class_list":{"0":"post-141166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-dublin","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-care","12":"tag-healthcare","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-mater-hospital"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115425100687682587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}