Why scooters and e-bikes are the newest travel hazard you didn't see coming
Sarah Morris used to love riding an e-scooter. Until her accident.
Morris, a tour guide from Seattle, lost control of her rental last year and wiped out.
"The handlebars came back at me and hit me square in the face, knocking me unconscious," she remembered. "I fell to the ground and slashed my chin and forehead open on the gravel."
The accident left her with 60 stitches to her head, a traumatic brain injury, and a new perspective on motorized scooters.
"Now, I have zero tolerance for them," she said.
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That's becoming a popular opinion. Many major tourist destinations, such as New York, Paris and Madrid, have either banned or strictly limited e-scooters. Many more are on the verge of going scooter-free.
I agree with Morris. I've traveled around the world, and there seems to be one constant: the ever-present motorized scooters and bikes on the sidewalks, weaving between pedestrians.
It's time to put an end to the madness.
"There are a lot of reasons travelers should remain very aware of their surroundings, but the popularity of e-bikes and scooters in tourist destinations definitely adds urgency to that," said John Gobbels, chief operating officer of Medjet, a membership program that provides air medical transport and travel security services.
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How dangerous are e-bikes and scooters to tourists?
Medjet has seen an uptick in transport calls related to e-bike and scooter accidents from both sides – the rider getting hurt and someone who got hit by the e-bike or scooter.
A recent national study by the University of California at San Francisco found that accident rates were soaring in the United States, with e-bicycle injuries doubling every year from 2017 to 2022 and e-scooter injuries rising by 45% each year.
In rare cases, the incidents can seriously injure travelers. For example, a hit-and-run with a motorized scooter in West Hollywood left one woman with a fractured skull and brain swelling. And an American visiting Sydney was struck by an e-bike while crossing a path where cycling was not allowed, sending him to the hospital with a serious brain injury.
Rental companies are aware of the problems and say they are working to make their scooters safer. Lime, one of the largest scooter rental companies, told me that it's developing rider education and on-vehicle technology. It also shares its rider data with cities to determine where infrastructure improvements like protected bike lanes would be most valuable.
'Safety is at the core of our mission at Lime, and the foundation for successful micromobility programs," says Lime spokesman Jacob Tugendrajch. He noted that 99.99% of Lime trips end without any reported incident.
Yet most run-ins between visitors and these new mobility devices go unreported. Even if they're just close calls or clips, they can really affect the visitor experience in that they leave people stunned and frightened. And, to be fair, it's often tourists who do it to each other. They rent an e-scooter or bike for a few hours and race it around town, sometimes taking the vehicle for a joyride on the sidewalk.
What's the problem with scooters and e-bikes?
So what's wrong with these popular urban mobility vehicles? Nothing – and everything.
Nothing, in the sense that they are not inherently dangerous. A scooter or e-bike operated carefully in a dedicated bike lane can get you from point A to point B quickly and safely.
Problem is, a mobility lane isn't always available.
"In the street, e-scooter riders feel unsafe because of cars, which can easily kill an e-scooter rider," said Ralph Buehler, a professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech. "On sidewalks, e-scooter riders feel that they are endangering pedestrians, and they can't move freely."
But that's not all. E-bikes are bulkier and faster than conventional bikes, and they can easily reach speeds of 30 miles per hour. And the newest e-scooters, though a bit slower, are built like a tank. In the wrong hands, they're a menace to pedestrians.
Tourists are afraid of e-bikes and scooters
Travelers don't really think about the safety of a pedestrian walkway until they're actually standing on it. But if you ask them about the threat of scooters, they're not shy about sharing their opinions.
Jenna Rose Robbins, a web consultant who lives in Los Angeles, said Miami is pretty awful when it comes to scooters.
"The scooters and e-bikes are a nuisance," she said. "I was nearly hit on numerous occasions, and there was a certain lawlessness to it all -- no signs saying not to ride them on sidewalks, piles of scooters on almost every corner."
Morris, the tour guide from Seattle, told me her "zero tolerance" attitude toward e-bikes and scooters wasn't just the result of her collision. Her experience of showing visitors Seattle cemented her position.
"I've personally been clipped multiple times just walking down the sidewalk," she said. "Riders often don't realize that walking tours stop, move, and change direction, which leads to frequent close calls."
What should you do about the dangerous streets?
I'm currently in Christchurch, New Zealand, where pedestrians have to be extra careful. In fact, I just returned from a walk through town and counted three close calls – one e-bike, two scooters. They were all on the sidewalk.
I asked Chris Davlantes, an emergency room physician, what to do about this problem. Davlantes, a concussion expert and senior medical director for Abbott's point of care diagnostics business, has some firsthand experience. He was recently riding an e-scooter and collided with a pedestrian who wandered into the bike lane. The pedestrian was fine, but Davlantes went airborne and suffered a concussion, bilateral nasal bone fractures, two broken bones in his right wrist and a broken finger on his left hand.
"Always be attentive," he said. "Especially when crossing the street at an intersection – and even if you have the right of way."
Read between the lines: Stay off your phone and watch where you're going. Never step into the bike lane unless you first look both ways. And be aware that e-bikes and scooters are fast and heavy – and very quiet.
He added that if you're in an accident and hit your head, you should get checked out even if you feel OK.
"When it comes to concussions, it's never best to wait and see," he warned. "For your best chance at a full recovery, seek professional medical help immediately."
The sidewalk should be off-limits to e-bikes and scooters
But what about the problem of e-bikes and scooters on the sidewalk? If you're traveling anywhere this summer, you should assume that you'll be sharing the pedestrian walkway with fast-moving vehicles, and they won't always be on their best behavior.
This is not a difficult problem, and it's not a controversial solution. These vehicles should never be allowed on the sidewalk, ever. And e-bikes should probably be on the road, since they are practically mopeds, anyway.
I used to think pickpockets and tourist traps were the biggest threats to visitors, but those are usually easy to avoid. E-bikes and scooters, not so much. Be careful out there.
Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at chris@elliott.org.
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