Power Scooter Injuries Up

CPSC says rate likely to exceed last year's record

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 22, 2001 (HealthDayNews) -- Serious injuries from motorized scooters are on pace to break last year's record mark, government safety officials say.

Through the first seven months of this year, 2,250 people have gone to hospital emergency rooms with injuries suffered in wrecks on motorized scooters, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). At least three people have died on the vehicles.

Officials say the injury figures are preliminary, but that the final numbers are likely to eclipse last year's total of 4,390 emergency room visits associated with the scooters. That figure marked a 230 percent increase over 1999's count of 1,330, the government says.

To help avoid setting the dubious record, the CPSC today reiterated its safety tips for the devices. Foremost among them is the use of a helmet. None of the three people who died on the scooters this year -- two boys, ages 6 and 11, and a 46-year-old man -- was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. Each suffered fatal head injuries.

"We're doing this campaign to try to help prevent some of these injuries," says Mark Ross, a CPSC spokesman. The agency recommends that riders also wear elbow and knee pads and sturdy shoes. Officials also advise against riding at night, and that children under age 12 not be allowed to use powered scooters.

Last year, almost 40 percent of the motorized scooter injuries involved children under the age of 15, officials say. Most of the trauma occurred on arms, legs, face and head; the most common injuries were broken bones.

Gas- and electric-powered scooters have become increasingly popular in the last two years, in tandem with the manual scooter craze. So far this year, the CPSC says non-powered scooters have accounted for more than 68,500 emergency room visits, up from about 40,000 in all of 2000 and only 3,000 the previous year, Ross says. Through April of this year, the agency recorded eight deaths involving non-powered scooters.

There is no federal law governing scooter use, and regulations for the devices vary by state and locality, Ross says.

California passed a law in 1999 forbidding children under 16 from riding powered scooters. The statute also requires every rider, regardless of age, to wear a bicycle helmet while on the machines. Still, a 6-year-old boy died on a motorized scooter earlier this month.

The law also puts a 15 mile-per-hour speed limit on scooters, and sets standards for such safety gear as lights and reflectors. It does not require a powered scooter rider to have a driver's license.

Earlier this year the Oregon legislature passed its own law legalizing motorized scooters, based on the California bill. Frederick Waring, who runs the bicyclist and pedestrian safety program for the state's Department of Transportation, says his agency and the state police had "strong reservations" about permitting the scooters. But strong lobbying by a company that makes the machines pushed the statute through, he says.

"I think we're out ahead of where we need to be in terms of safety because we don't really know how they operate and we don't really have good standards" for the devices, Waring says. Oregon safety officials recently added an item to their injury tracking system to account for scooter-related trauma, but the police and emergency crews have not yet incorporated it into their field notes, he adds.

California SpeedSports sells the $450 Sport GoPed, a one-cylinder, 1.2-horsepower gas scooter that can reach 20 miles per hour, according to the company's Web site. The company also sells a $1,400, custom-designed "Shred-Ped," which can be outfitted with a souped-up carburetor and exhaust along with other high-performance components.

No one at the company was available for comment on the government safety report. However, SpeedSports' Web site does state that a "good helmet is the most important" protective gear.

"Scrapes and bruises heal; head wounds can severely affect you for the rest of your life," the company says.

What To Do

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has more about scooter safety, and its latest report offers other tips for riding the machines.

For more on how to protect your kids from harm on scooters, try Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati.

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