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Major Tourist Destinations Have a Hidden Transportation Hazard That Leaves Travelers and Locals Vulnerable
Electric scooters and e-bikes are ubiquitous throughout many cities in the world, and they aren't inherently dangerous. But the sheer number of them, combined with the potential for serious accidents, makes them a real and serious travel hazard for visitors.
A study from 2024 by researchers at UC San Francisco have found that injuries from e-bikes have doubled every year from 2017 to 2022, and injuries from scooters have risen by 45 percent each year.
'This increase in accidents not only introduced a demographic shift, but also underscores an urgent need for added safety measures,' co-lead author Adrian Fernandez, a chief resident with the UCSF Department of Urology, said in a statement on the UCSF website. 'There are undeniable health and environmental benefits to micromobility vehicle use, but structural changes must be taken to promote safe riding.'
In response, many major tourist destinations, including New York, Madrid, and Paris, have taken steps to ban or severely limit e-scooters, while others are close to going scooter-free. Often, e-bike and e-scooters behave around pedestrians in ways that put both riders and walkers at risk of injury.
Though serious injuries are rare, they do happen. In 2024, a woman was severely injured in West Hollywood when she was hit by a motorized scooter, suffering a fractured skull and brain swelling that required hospitalization. An American man in Sydney nearly died after being hit by an e-bike that was riding in an area it was not permitted. He needed emergency brain surgery and spent weeks in a coma.
And most run-ins between people and micromobility devices go unreported. Many more people have close calls or are clipped by speeding scooters, and these are experiences that can make people nervous in cities, which affects tourists.
And tourists can also be responsible for the close calls, who rent e-bikes and scooters to joy ride around unfamiliar cities, leading to potential accidents. Riders of e-devices might feel unsafe riding on main streets alongside cars, but then become a hazard to pedestrians on sidewalks. Designated scoots lanes can help, but are not always available.
'As micromobility vehicles become more embedded in our daily lives, understanding and addressing the safety challenges they pose is critical,' corresponding author Benjamin N. Breyer, MD, MAS, the Taube Family Distinguished Professor and chair of the UCSF Department of Urology, said on the UCSF website. 'By doing so, we can harness the full potential of micromobility to create more sustainable, healthy and safe urban environments.'
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