\n<\/p>\n
The number of children involved in crashes on e-scooters has soared in recent years, with some as young as nine involved in collisions, research has found.<\/p>\n
Researchers carried out a review of injuries among the under-16s at three specialist paediatric trauma centres \u2013 Alder Hey in Liverpool, and Sheffield and Royal Manchester children\u2019s hospitals \u2013 between January 2019 and December 2024.<\/p>\n
They found the average age of those involved in e-scooter collisions was 12, and almost 65% of those injured were male. The most common injuries were to the limbs, followed by head and facial injuries. Fewer than 2% of patients had been wearing a helmet.<\/p>\n
Half of the children injured were between 10 and 13 years old, with the youngest only nine. The three hospitals had recorded a total of 477 e-scooter injuries, with a significant increase in numbers since 2019.<\/p>\n
More than 80% of the injuries were sustained on private e-scooters, which can only be ridden legally on private land. The majority of the accidents had happened on public land, roads and parks.<\/p>\n
Up to 1.2 million people in England are believed to privately own e-scooters, which are available to buy from many high street retailers. \u201cClearly, reporting these accidents is important to influence and change policy,\u201d the researchers told the Emergency Medicine journal, adding: \u201cThere must also be an onus on retailers to clearly advise customers of the law, and policymakers to regulate private e-scooters, such as with speed limiters, or mandate helmet use.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rented e-scooter are legal to ride on public roads. The rider must be 16 years old or older and hold at least a provisional driving licence. Rental scooters are typically speed limited to 15mph, and companies must have appropriate insurance.<\/p>\n
In June, a 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was sentenced to a youth referral order and a driving ban, after earlier pleading guilty to causing the death of his friend Jacob Calland, 14, who was a passenger on the back of his e-scooter when it collided with a car in Wythenshawe, Manchester.<\/p>\n
After her son\u2019s death, Carly Calland launched Jacob\u2019s Journey, a campaign that aims to raise awareness about dangerous e-scooter use and the legalities around riding them.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo words will ever be able to describe the pain caused by Jacob\u2019s death,\u201d she told the court in a statement as his friend was sentenced. \u201cMy heart has been smashed into a thousand pieces and there is nothing that can be done to fix it. My life is a living nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n
DC Steve Pennington from Greater Manchester Police\u2019s serious collision investigation unit said: \u201cE-scooters are not harmless toys and they can lead to horrific consequences when used by inexperienced riders and without the due care required. I would urge parents to check what their children are using and to ensure they are educated about the risks of using them on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: \u201cThese are concerning findings, and our thoughts are with anyone who has been injured on our roads. It is illegal for private e-scooters to be used on roads, pavements or in other public spaces, including by under-16s, and we\u2019re bringing forward new laws to make their use safe and legal, including consulting on requirements like helmets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number of children involved in crashes on e-scooters has soared in recent years, with some as young as nine involved in collisions, research has found. Researchers carried out a review of injuries among the under-16s at three specialist paediatric trauma centres \u2013 Alder Hey in Liverpool, and Sheffield and Royal Manchester children\u2019s hospitals \u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[166,6710,311,23100,1597,2189,1377,253,9100],"class_list":{"0":"post-51741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-children","9":"tag-crashes","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-escooter","12":"tag-injured","13":"tag-number","14":"tag-road","15":"tag-safety","16":"tag-surges"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}