UCSF: Electric bike, scooter accidents are soaring across the U.S.

In recent years, e-bikes and electric scooters have surged in popularity.

So too, it turns out, have accidents involving such so-called micromobility vehicles.

Between 2017 and 2022, the number of injuries involving e-bikes nationwide skyrocketed more than 3,000% , according to a new UCSF study published Tuesday. The number of e-scooter injuries jumped more than 560% over the same time period, according to the study, which was based on data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System .

Researchers found that e-bike and e-scooter riders were more likely than riders of non-electric powered vehicles to engage in unsafe behaviors, such as riding while intoxicated.

“A lot of people that ride e-scooters and e-scooters aren’t wearing helmets,” said Adrian Fernandez, a resident physician in UCSF’s urology department and the study’s co-lead author. “It’s a concern for me as a practicing physician. It’s part of our goal to just make transportation safer, keep people living healthy lives and by illustrating that there are real health consequences to risky behaviors and unsafe vehicle use.”

The rise in micromobility injuries comes as the use of the small vehicles for one or two passengers has increased 50-fold over the last decade, according to the UCSF researchers. The vehicles have become particularly popular in dense, urban environments, thanks to the launch there of vehicle-sharing services and the increasing availability of electric-powered options .

The UCSF researchers compiled their findings from NEISS data, which contains logs of emergency-room visits attributed or related to use of consumer-products injuries.

Overall, they found that e-bike injuries in the United States rose from 751 to 23,493 from 2017 to 2022. Over that same timeframe, e-scooter injuries increased from 8,566 to 56,847. E-scooter riders were more likely than riders of non-electric bikes and scooters to sustain internal injuries, according to the study.

“The degree to which we’re seeing more of these injuries in the public health sphere — we didn’t necessarily anticipate quite such an extreme increase,” Fernandez said.

In contrast with those riding e-vehicles, the most common types of injuries among riders of nonelectric vehicles were to their arms, forearms, hands and wrists.

The study is important, because it helps to illuminate the safety issues posed by micromobility vehicles as they become more popular, said Benjamin Breyer, the study’s senior and corresponding author, who is also the chair of UCSF’s urology department . Understanding such challenges is crucial to taking steps to reduce harm, he said.

“They allow us to establish benchmarks that we can use to understand whether we’re improving in terms of safety over time or whether things are getting worse,” Elliot Martin, a research and development engineer at the UC Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center, told The Examiner.

Cities will need to take a “multifaceted response” to address the safety concerns pertaining to e-bikes and e-scooters, researchers said. Among the steps policymakers could take are designing streets to accommodate smaller vehicles and holding educational campaigns to promote helmet use and sober riding, they said.

“This not only involves adapting our urban landscapes but also fostering a culture of safety among riders,” Breyer said. he added. “By doing so, we can harness the full potential of micromobility to create more sustainable, healthy and safe urban environments.”

In terms of adapting urban infrastructure to accommodate various types of vehicles, Martin advocated for creating dedicated lanes — similar to bike lanes — for smaller vehicles. While separating and designating such lanes with paint and other markings is a start, city planners should seriously consider putting in place physical barriers and other protective measures , Martin said.

“The more that can be done, the safer that micromobility mode is and the better for traffic in general,” he said.

Fernandez said that he hopes the study’s broad findings will inspire others in the micromobility space to take a closer look at the data on a local level, especially from a rider’s perspective. He also said it would be helpful to hear from both nonelectric- and electric-vehicle riders about the challenges they encounter, because such feedback could help address unsafe street conditions before injuries occur.

“It’s great that people are using micromobility vehicles to get to work,” Fernandez said. “Generally speaking, it’s good for your health. It’s environmentally friendly. It’s good for street congestion.”

“And yet, the safety profile needs to be really studied for these newer vehicles in particular,” he said. “We can make these transportation options safer.”