A Neurosurgical Perspective on Electric Scooter Accidents

Abstract

Purpose Electric scooters (e-scooters) have become the preferred personal vehicles in the world with their easy accessibility and fast and even environmentally friendly features in urban transportation. E-scooters started to be used in Istanbul for the first time in Turkiye in 2019 and became popular in other metropolitans over time. We started encountering associated injuries in our clinic with the growing use of e-scooters. Methods This study evaluated 242 patients, who were admitted to the Emergency Department of our hospital, due to electric scooter accidents between January 2020 and May 2023, retrospectively for neurosurgical pathologies. Results Among the 12 patients included in the study, 8 were male and 34 were female. The mean age was 26.6 (14–50). It was determined that none of them used protective equipment (helmet, knee pad, etc.). According to the retrospective evaluation, two patients were followed up for mild head trauma, seven for moderate head trauma, and one for severe head trauma. One patient with severe head trauma required a long hospital stay and repeated surgical intervention. One patient was treated with conservative follow-up and the other required surgery. Conclusion Electric scooters are environmentally friendly and accelerate transportation; however, using them without complying with protective equipment and traffic rules causes severe traumas. Despite our limited number of patients, we monitored one patient with trauma progressing with severe morbidity. We think we will encounter injuries related to e-scooters more frequently in the neurosurgery emergency practice.