E-Scooter Use is on the Rise — But so are Injuries

With infrastructure and rider education lagging behind the growth of e-scooter systems, American ERs saw an 80 percent rise in e-scooter injuries between 2023 and 2024.

1 minute read

September 8, 2025, 6:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


A man wearing a helmet rides an e-scooter on a street in Manhattan.

An e-scooter rider in New York City. | 1000 Words / Shutterstock

As the popularity of e-scooters has grown, so has the rate of injuries sustained on them, writes Dan Zukowski in Smart Cities Dive. 

“The number of injuries incurred by electric scooter riders who were treated in U.S. emergency departments rose 80% from 2023 to 2024 and nearly 300% from 2020 to 2024, according to an August report from ERideHero, a company that tests e-scooters and related products.” Males accounted for two-thirds of injuries, while children under 14 accounted for 1 in 7. 

According to the report, “safety legislation and user sophistication have lagged behind” as the devices have proliferated in shared mobility fleets. Meanwhile, most U.S. cities still lack safe, effective infrastructure for bikes and other small mobility devices. 

Friday, September 5, 2025 in Smart Cities Dive

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