Health

Study: E-Scooters Pose Higher Brain Injury Risk Than Motorcycles

Are e-scooters a public safety crisis demanding urgent regulation or is low helmet use the real problem to solve first?

AUG 6·Updated AUG 13

Study: E-Scooters Pose Higher Brain Injury Risk Than Motorcycles

Story

Above: Rental e-scooters in Hesse, Germany, on July 7. Image credit: Andreas Arnold/picture alliance/Getty Images

The Facts

A study based on data from England and Wales shows that there were 1,312 e-scooter collisions in 2024, up from 1,292 in 2023, resulting in 1,390 casualties and 6 deaths. The U.K. government has backed rental e-scooter trials since 2020, with pilots authorized until May 2028.
Nature
Daily Mail
Published in Scientific Reports on Thursday, the study analyzed data from 15,247 patients on the National Major Trauma Registry, including 580 e-scooter riders, across 18 cities in England and Wales between 2020 and 2022. E-scooter riders faced a 3.5 times higher risk of traumatic brain injury than motorcyclists.
Nature
The Guardian
Helmet use was recorded in only 5.9% of e-scooter riders, compared with roughly three-quarters of motorcyclists and 45% of cyclists. An estimated 1 million privately owned e-scooters operate in the U.K., where their use on public roads, paths and cycle lanes is illegal.
The Telegraph
Daily Mail
Women riding e-scooters had a 36% higher crash risk than men and were 2.1 times more likely to suffer severe injuries. Researchers attributed this partly to e-scooter handlebars being designed around male body proportions, thereby demanding greater upper-body strength from female riders.
Nature
Medicalxpress
Children accounted for 16.2% of e-scooter injuries and a substantial share of craniofacial trauma, with one in 10 e-scooter riders being children. The researchers noted that e-scooters have gone from "novelty devices to a common form of urban mobility."
Gizmodo
Independent
Research showed e-scooter incidents were more common in deprived urban areas, while collisions in affluent suburbs — with wider roads and higher vehicle speeds — were less frequent but more likely to result in severe trauma. In Australia, the federal government tasked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission with developing a national e-mobility safety framework following a sharp rise in injuries.
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The Spin

Narrative A

Six prime ministers have promised e-scooter legislation. None delivered. Meanwhile, 47 people have died, 1.2 million illegal scooters circulate uninsured, and a new study shows riders face 3.5 times the brain injury risk of motorcyclists. Trials have been extended five times. The government isn't gathering evidence; rather, it is running out the clock.

UK Parliament

Engadget

Nature

Narrative B

The e-scooter injury data is serious, but the core problem is simple: almost nobody wears a helmet. With helmet use documented at under 6% among e-scooter riders, compared with 75% among motorcyclists, the danger gap is largely self-inflicted. Cracking down on devices before addressing this basic behavior gap is the wrong priority — helmet enforcement is the fastest path to saving lives.