Since 1 January 2019, there have been 3,305 presentations to participating Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit* (QISU) emergency departments in Queensland as a result of an e-scooter ride gone wrong. 

Jointly funded research between RACQ and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation, conducted by the Jamieson Trauma Institute, found 63% of presentations were male, and the average age of patients is 30 years old. 

RACQ’s Principal Technical Researcher Andrew Kirk said the data showed more than 50% of patients suffered head and facial injuries which indicated some users were still not wearing helmets.

“A helmet should be secure before you step onto an e-scooter, it’s illegal to ride without one for a reason, they protect you from severe injuries if you crash,” Mr Kirk said.

“Another concerning finding was the number of children who presented to emergency departments: 364 children aged 15 and under. Parents need to remember it’s illegal for children under 12 to ride an e-scooter and kids aged 12 -16 must be supervised by an adult. 

“The research shows more care is desperately needed and as we head into the silly season, people need to remember e-scooters are not a safe transport option after drinking alcohol.”

RBWH Emergency Senior Staff Specialist, Emergency and Trauma Physician, Frances Williamson, said e-scooter presentations were predicted to overtake presentations from pushbikes by the end of the year.

“In the last six months, 20% of e-scooter crash patients required hospitalisation or operative care for head and facial trauma and 69% needed orthopaedic intervention,” Dr Williamson said. 

“The impacts of these kind of injuries can be profound as they have repeated return visits to the hospital for outpatient care, delayed operative intervention and a slow return to work.”

JTI Chair of Trauma Surveillance and Data Analytics Professor Kirsten Vallmuur said the data showed emergency department presentation trends were changing across the State. 

“We’re no longer only seeing patients present on Friday and Saturday nights,” Professor Vallmuur said.

“In some hospitals mid-week, early evening presentations are in fact more common than the stereotypical late night weekend presentations which people have typically associated with e-scooters. This suggests the type of people who are using e-scooters and purposes for use are changing over time.”

RBWH Foundation CEO Simone Garske said prevention is always better than cure, especially when it comes to head and brain injuries.

“This research is at the heart of ensuring better health outcomes, better safety and security for our community and the people that we serve,” Ms Garske said. 

“We have no doubt the data will inform new knowledge and practice, Australia-wide, if not internationally.”

In August 2022, RACQ and the RBWH Foundation donated $200,000 to the Jamieson Trauma Institute to fund research into e-scooter injuries. The results will be used to shape policy and improve user safety. 

Table 1: Top 5 hospitals for e-scooter injury-related Emergency Department presentations reporting to QISU*

Table 2: Most common day and time of week for e-scooter injury-related emergency department presentations in 2023

*The Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) identified e-scooter related presentations in 26 participating emergency departments across Queensland, not all hospitals in Queensland provide data to QISU.