How Electric Scooters Took Over Austin

AUSTIN, Texas - June 19, 2019 - PRLog -- As reports of e-scooter injuries increase, we took a look at the issue of safety and how these scooter accidents happen as e-scooters take over Austin.

Zinda law Group put together the following infographic showing recent e-scooter stats in Austin:

https://www.zdfirm.com/austin/personal-injury/how-electric-scooters-took-over-austin/

3.6 MILLION MILES TRAVELLED IN JUST 1 YEAR!

According to the City of Austin Dockless Vehicle Data, there are in excess of 15,000 dockless scooter devices in operation in the city. Looking back into early 2018, we can see that there has been an increase in devices of 1143% in just one year! April 2018 to April 2019 has seen:

• 3.623M journeys taken
• 3.674 miles traveled
• 9291 average journeys per day
• 9352 average miles per day
• 1.09 average miles per journey
• 13.1 average minutes per journey
• 829% increase in monthly trips from April 2018 to April 2019

IS THE SCOOT WORTH THE RISK?

With these increases, also came a concern for the health and wellbeing of the scooter riders. Within the past 12 months, reports of scooter-related injuries have been on the rise – so much so that is the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was asked to conduct an investigation to shed some light on the dangers of e-scooters and the risk to those who ride them.

The study, published in April 2019, used data from Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services (ATCEMS) incident reports, and Emergency Department (ED) complaint data from nine hospital areas across a 3 month period – September to November 2018 – and found 160 confirm cases of e-scooter related injuries in Austin in that time period.

From those injured, almost 50% suffered head injuries, 70% upper limb injuries, 55% lower limb injuries, and 18% sustained injuries to the chest/abdomen. Over one-third of those injured sustained bone fractures and 3% suffered head fractures.

Almost 50% of the injured people had sustained severe injuries including, bone fractures, nerve injuries, tendon and ligament injuries, severe bleeding and organ damage.

INCREASED REPORTS OF SCOOTER MALFUNCTIONS

Some of the common scooter defects reported by electric scooter users can cause serious injury to the riders and have done in the past. These include:

• Uncontrollable acceleration due to a stuck throttle
• Faulty brakes
• Software Bugs causing sudden excessive braking
• Locking of wheels

In February 2019, Lime issued a safety update to the public stating that they had recently detected a bug in their software, which could cause 'sudden excessive braking' during use.

Just last month, Zinda Law Group filed a lawsuit against Lime on behalf of our client. Our client was riding a scooter near the Capitol Building when her scooter malfunctioned causing her to fall off the scooter and injure herself on a nearby railing, causing multiple facial fractures, a damaged tear duct, two broken ribs and severe damage to her nose.

Speaking with ABC News in May, Jack Zinda, Zinda Law Group CEO, said,

"The biggest thing that Dorothy (our client) wants to do is make sure this doesn't happen to anybody in the future and that Lime is held accountable for what occurred."

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