INTER-OFFICE MEMO

•  Less than 1% of injured riders were wearing helmets.
•  33% of injuries occurred on the rider's first scooter ride. For more than half of injuries (63%), the rider had 9 or fewer rides of previous experience.

UCLA E-Scooter Injury Study

A recent study by UCLA researchers into e-scooter injuries ("Injuries Associated With Standing Electric Scooter Use" by Dr. Tarak K. Trevedi et al., January 25, 2019) reviewed all injuries associated with standing e-scooter use at two urban emergency departments in Southern California between September 1, 2017 and August 31, 2018. This study found:

•  There were 249 e-scooter injuries during the study period.
• o 92% were e-scooter riders
• o 8% were non-riders
•  Average patient age was 33.7
•  4.4% of riders were wearing helmets. This rate was somewhat lower than the rate found in observations of area e-scooter riders (5.7% were wearing helmets).
•  40.4% of riders (92 patients) suffered head injuries. Of these, 94.6% of head injuries were minor and 5.4% involved intercranial hemorrhage.

Rutgers University E-Scooter Injury Study

A recent study by Rutgers University researchers ("Craniofacial injuries related to motorized scooter use: A rising epidemic" by A.Y. Bresler et al., May 2019) reviewed injuries associated with motorized scooter use that were reported in the Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) from 2008 to 2017. Key points from this study:

•  The NEISS had 990 recorded head or facial injuries associated with motorized scooters over the study period, which is extrapolated to 32,001 emergency department visits nationwide for the United States (see note below).
•  Over the survey period, facial and head injuries tripled from 2,325 per year to 6,957 per year.
•  Two thirds of injured individuals were not wearing helmets.

Note: From the website of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS):

"NEISS is based on a nationally representative probability sample of hospitals in the U.S. and its territories.

"Patient information is collected from each NEISS hospital for every emergency department visit associated with a consumer product or a poisoning to a child younger than five years of