Top WA trauma surgeon says E-scooter injuries are a ‘new disease’ for hospital emergency departments

One of WA’s top trauma surgeons has described the “enormous exponential increase” of serious e-scooter injuries presenting to Royal Perth Hospital’s emergency department as a “new disease”, as figures reveal the alarming rate of people riding drunk, on drugs and without a helmet. The West Australian has obtained concerning new statistics around the prevalence of e-scooter injuries as a 15-year-old boy continued to fight for his life in the intensive care unit on Friday night after his e-scooter was involved in a collision with a car in Greenwood on Thursday. In the first two months of this year alone, 19 patients were admitted to RPH for more than 24 hours with injuries from e-scooter crashes — an average of more than twice a week. Last year, 62 people needed treatment for e-scooter injuries — a 60 per cent jump on the year prior, where there were 39 people admitted to hospital. RPH head of trauma services Dr Dieter Weber said his team had “seen an enormous exponential increase in e-scooter related events from about 2018 onwards”. “After 2018 (when e-scooters became more prevalent), we see a gradual increase and now an exponential increase in the past year or two,” he said. “So we’ve got a new technology ... that’s potentially easily accessible, that we may or may not have a full understanding of as individuals, and sadly we are now seeing a new disease impacting patients and families.” Of the 39 injured patients in 2021, 33 of them were male and six were female, compared to last year when 49 of the patients were male and 13 female. Of those injured this year between January and February, 12 were male and seven female. Almost half of the males who suffered e-scooter injures last year had reported having alcohol in the 12 hours before their crash. Meanwhile, 70 per cent of both males and females who were intoxicated when they were injured were involved in crashes in the hours between 6pm and 6am. Alarmingly, only half of people needing medical treatment at RPH reported they had been wearing a helmet. RPH resident medical officer Kyle Raubenheimer, who conducted research into the injury patterns associated with e-scooter injuries, said it was found that riders who did not wear a helmet were four times more likely to sustain a head injury in a crash. “Unfortunately what we are seeing come through our emergency department here at our State Trauma Centre is that our patients are not wearing helmets as we would have expected and a significant number are also drunk or under the influence of drugs,” Dr Weber said. “Being drunk on an e-scooter is not going to help your chances. Being drunk on an e-scooter is going to increase the likelihood of a crash, and is going to increase the likelihood of getting injured.” Dr Weber said the injuries being treated at the hospital were similar to those usually seen in high-energy car crashes. He added a pedestrian being hit by an e-scooter is “equally as dangerous” as being hit by a car. “We’re seeing injuries to the whole body, we are seeing particularly head injuries, internal damage, internal bleeding and broken bones,” the trauma surgeon said. “These injuries absolutely have life-changing consequences with long-term suffering for the patient or for their families. “A few of these patients have died.” Tragically, one of them was 13-year-old Calym Gilbert, who died last year after he was flung from his scooter when he was hit by a Ford Ranger in Butler about 2am on February 20 last year. The teenager — who was riding the scooter with a 14-year-old boy on it as well — was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. His family made the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support the following day. Just three months later, father-of-three Kim Rowe died when he turned a blind corner on his e-scooter and collided with a cyclist travelling in the opposite direction on Nicholson Road in Thornlie. A grandmother was left with broken collarbones after she was mowed down by an e-scooter when she stepped out of an East Victoria Park nail salon last July. Dr Weber said it was not his job to advise on government policy but said based on what sees at his hospital, more education was needed about how powerful — and dangerous — these devices could be. “As a surgeon who is dealing with the clinical injuries, dealing with the patients and their families and seeing the harm that’s happening here — absolutely I want more education out there,” he said. In 2021, the McGowan Government introduced new legislation around “eRideables”, which included a 25km/h speed limit on shared paths and local roads, and a 10km/h speed limit on footpaths and pedestrian areas. The laws mandated an age limit — 16 years old — as well as the wearing of a helmet, and riders are now subject to the same drink and drug driving rules as motor vehicle drivers. The new laws were followed with the Road Safety Commission’s “make every e-ride safe” safety campaign across television, social media and on signage across the metropolitan area. WA Police have also engaged in an operation targeting the unlawful use of e-ridables across the city with an aim to “reduce unsafe driver behaviour through strategic targeted traffic enforcement of eRideable devices”. State Traffic Superintendent Alyson Brett said during the ongoing operation, police have come across underage riders, people not wearing helmets, using mobile phones while riding and travelling at excessive speeds. Supt Brett said police have also found devices are being manipulated to travel at unlawful speeds. “Positive community engagement is an integral part of the operation, and we are working with Road Safety Commission to ensure road users are suitably educated,” she said. Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner said for the most part, e-scooters were being ridden safely and sensibly and within the law. But he also agreed that some were riding e-scooters above the speed limit and “when we have those devices being used on roads or footpaths, it is simply a recipe for disaster”. He added, kids had “no business being on an e-scooter and we need parents support with this”. “E-scooters are not toys,” he said. “When e-scooters are ridden safely and sensibly, within the law, they are a convenient and environmentally friendly way to travel short distances. “Overall, people are doing the right thing and the serious outcomes we have seen involve illegal devices, devices being ridden illegally, or both.” STATISTICS INJURIES