Anidjar & Levine, Personal Injury and Accident Lawyers in Florida, analyzed new federal safety data to understand if “micro mobility” vehicles such as e-scooters and e-bikes are safe for people exploring U.S. cities. What they found is not what tourists expected. As the use of e-scooters and e-bikes has exploded, serious injuries and deaths have climbed.

It’s a given that we don’t have many tourists who rent e-scooters for recreation and sightseeing in northern New York. However, e-scooters and e-bikes are becoming significantly popular in our area more. Several of these weekly articles have addressed the applicable laws for riding these forms of transportation and the dangers that they present.

These devices are often promoted as a fun way to see a city quickly, but the injury pattern looks more like a public-safety issue. The recent study by Anidjar & Levine showed micro-mobility deaths nationally rose from just 5 in 2017 to 117 in 2023. Emergency rooms treated hundreds of thousands of scooter and e-bike injuries during the same period.

Visitors ride them on unfamiliar streets, often at night and usually without helmets. The data show the risk is growing, not leveling off.

Not only have they become a normal part of tourism in U.S. cities, but they have also become a major safety issue everywhere, including locally. Many riders are under the age of 16 and cannot legally ride them, and do not understand how dangerous they can be.

In October, a young male was riding an e-scooter on the sidewalk (an illegal act) in the village of Malone at a speed estimated to exceed the allowable 15-mph limit for e-scooters. He crashed into a car that was entering a side street and sustained minor injuries. The passenger on the scooter (also illegal) was injured and was taken to the hospital. The police department said citations are pending.

A second incident in the village of Malone involved an e-scooter on Finney Blvd. The operator had taken the scooter for a test ride, was knocked unconscious and was taken to the hospital.

Academic research shows e-scooters carry several times the injury risk of bicycles on a per-ride basis, challenging the idea that scooters are a “lighter” or safer option. Most crashes occur on paved streets or on roads alongside cars.

Head trauma remains a dominant and largely preventable outcome. The study found helmet use was just 16%. Supporting this finding, no one in the two incidents described was wearing a helmet. Helmets are mandatory for 16- and 17-year-old riders.

E-scooters and e-bikes can be fun and practical, but riders must know and obey the applicable laws and take safety precautions seriously.