New peril on our roads: a retrospective study of electric scooter-related injuries

Abstract

The electric scooter has been gaining popularity locally as a commute mode. We aimed to understand the current landscape of electric scooter-related injuries in Singapore. A retrospective review was performed of the medical records of patients seen from 2015 to 2016 at an emergency department (ED) in Singapore. Patient demographics, circumstances of the accident, injuries sustained and clinical progress were analysed. There were 36 cases, all of whom were electric scooter users. The median age was 34 (range 17‒70) years and 66.7% were male. There was a 2.3-fold increase in the number of cases from 2015 to 2016. In 11 (30.6%) of cases, another road user was implicated. Two cases involved the use of protective equipment. 14 (38.9%) cases were conveyed by Emergency Medical Services. In the ED, 4 (11.1%), 17 (47.2%) and 15 (41.7%) cases were triaged as P1 (emergent), P2 (urgent) and P3 (ambulatory), respectively. Investigations were performed in the ED for 31 (86.1%) cases. External injuries were most common (72.2%), followed by extremity injuries (33.3%), with median Abbreviated Injury Scale scores of 1 and 2, respectively. Overall, the median Injury Severity Score was 1. Nine patients were admitted to the hospital with three requiring surgery. The median length of stay was 2 (range 1‒6) days. The incidence of electric scooter-related injuries appears to be on the rise and may potentially incur significant morbidity and healthcare costs. Further efforts at safety education and enforcement should be made to prevent accidents and minimise the impact of these injuries.