Study: Nighttime speed restrictions may not prevent electric scooter injuries
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Key takeaways:
- Nighttime speed restrictions may not prevent electric scooter-related injuries.
- The electric scooter-related injury incidence was lowest in 2019.
Nighttime speed restrictions may not be associated with reductions in electric scooter-related injuries, according to results published in JAMA Network Open.
To evaluate the association of nighttime speed restrictions on the incidence of electronic scooter (e-scooter)-related injuries, researchers retrospectively analyzed data from 654 patients (mean age, 28.7 years; 58.4% were men) with an e-scooter-related injury admitted to Tampere University Hospital in Finland from 2019 and 2022. Because the maximum speed was electronically limited by e-scooter companies to 15 km per hour between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. in 2022, researchers compared incidence rates between June 1 and Aug. 31 to evaluate the association of nighttime restrictions with incidence.
Results showed a mean total incidence of 18.39 injuries per 100,000 rides and 8.97 injuries per 100,000 km driven during the study period. Researchers found the lowest injury incidence in 2019 and the highest injury incidence in 2020. Researchers also noted an almost twofold increase in the mean injury incidence per 100,000 km from 5.63 in 2019 to 10.43 in 2022.
“The results from our study can be used as reference values to evaluate the efficacy of new interventions,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Although e-scooter–related nighttime injuries are a concern, it seems that the nightly speed limits might not be effective enough to substantially reduce them.”
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Liukkonen R, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.20868.
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