Cork doctor warns of surge in child e-scooter injuries despite under-16 ban

A Cork emergency consultant says severe head injuries continue to affect underage riders despite legislation banning e-scooter use

Since June this year, it is estimated between one and two children have been presenting at CHI emergency departments every day with e-scooter related injuries.

An emergency medicine consultant at Cork University Hospital has warned of a "sustained increase" in e-scooter injuries in children under 16 despite legislation banning their use two years ago.

It comes as a new report from Children’s Health Ireland recorded a sharp increase in the number of children being admitted to hospital with traumatic brain injuries as a result of e-scooter incidents, 53% of which needed emergency brain surgery.

Since June this year, it is estimated between one and two children have been presenting at CHI emergency departments every day with e-scooter related injuries.

Dr Eanna Mac Suibhne, an emergency medicine consultant at Cork University Hospital, said these figures would align with the increases they have seen, describing it as a “concerning trend”.

He told the Irish Examiner: “We’ve seen a sustained increase in e-scooter injuries over the last number of years, and the injuries can be quite severe. We’ve seen lots of quite significant traumatic brain injuries.

The majority of head injuries are people without helmets, but you can still sustain injuries with a helmet on.

"Because of the mechanics of an e-scooter, riders are standing upright over the wheels, which are small, narrow, and close together — when you lose control, you are propelled off the e-scooter, your centre of gravity is much higher than on a bicycle.” 

Common injuries include lacerations on the face and body, upper limb fractures, abdominal and spinal trauma.

“If you’re travelling at speed and collide with a car, that energy transfer has the potential to cause even more injuries, and that’s when we’d see a multisystem polytraumatically injured patient," added Dr Mac Suibhne.  

He said they were seeing injured patients from across the age spectrum, including children under 16, despite the ban that has been in place for over two years.

“Recently, we had a child under 10 present with head injuries, and that’s in the last few days despite all the attention on the issue and new legislation.

“We aren’t policing experts or legislating experts, but we have a moral responsibility to highlight causes of preventable injury — e-scooters have the potential to cause serious injuries.”