Injured people presenting to emergency departments after crashing an e-scooter are older and one-in-five are classified as "clinically intoxicated", according to Canberra Health Services data.
AMA president Dr Stephen Robson said "unusual patient patterns" were emerging from emergency departments as a result of e-scooter crashes, with people being treated and admitted "from age groups we would not usually see with these types of serious injuries".
"Some of these injuries are extremely serious; we are talking about facial injuries, head trauma, and upper body and upper limb injuries. Adults are coming off these devices at speed and are getting badly hurt," he said.
"It's also incredibly alarming to think that people are riding these devices while intoxicated and not wearing a helmet when there is little or no protection."
There were 51 e-scooter crashes last year in the ACT in which the patient injuries were severe enough to require admission to hospital.
The 51 crashes occurred over 10 months between January 1 and November 10 last year but did not include other injuries in which riders were treated within emergency departments or walk-in centres.
"This isn't just an ACT problem or a national problem; it's a global one," Dr Robson said.
"The data we have coming in shows that the type and prevalence of injuries we are seeing in the ACT is reflected elsewhere.
"There's a perception that e-scooters are harmless and all good fun; just jump on one and off you go. While the [injury] data we are seeing is still in the early stages, it is enough to be of considerable concern and it's also putting additional strain on our emergency departments."
Of the 51 riders in the ACT admitted to hospital, 33 were male and 18 were female.
Aside from the high rate of intoxication, another concern was that 34 of the riders were not documented as wearing a helmet.
"We know that the ACT government wants to shape the narrative around e-scooters; they want to talk about the mobility but they don't want to talk about the injuries," Dr Robson said.
"So they purposely don't go out of their way to collect the full injury data.
"But we need to collect that data. Because if we can't measure it, we can't assess it and develop the policies and mechanisms to deal with it."
Last year a 19-year-old woman was killed when hit by a car in Kambah, prompting the AMA to call for a community education campaign for both riders and drivers. However, that call has gone unheeded.
One of the 11 recommendations arising from a review on "micromobility" by independent consultants Curijo two years ago was that in order for future policy to be better informed, there needed to be an "appropriate data collection framework to draw out the factors contributing to safety incidents".
However, in its response, the ACT government says there were problems collecting the data.
"Hospital admissions data ... does not seek the details of interest to this purpose," the ACT government responded.
"Hospital presentations data is based on clinical notes, not standardised coding. It is therefore considered unreliable for this purpose," it said.
It added that there were "practical limitations to obtaining more granular injury data".
Riding an e-scooter while intoxicated is an offence under road transport legislation and can incur a fine of up to $3200. There is also a maximum penalty of up to 12 months' imprisonment for repeat offenders.
ACT police say that all riders should follow the established rules, such as not riding under the influence of drugs or alcohol, wearing a helmet, and don't carry passengers. Police have periodic crackdowns on riders not wearing helmets, as evidenced by the offence spikes for certain months, with 20 fines issues in December 2020 and 27 in November 2021.
Canberra has been one of the fastest "adopters" nationally of electric scooters, with 1900 rental e-scooters now in operation through the two approved commercial providers, Beam and Neuron.
In the 31 months since they were rolled out in the ACT, there has been an average 3300 daily trips logged, at an average 9.6kmh. Most e-scooter trips are between 1-2 kilometres, according to an ACT government analysis.
In February this year, it was announced that the e-scooter share scheme would be extended to include the Parliamentary triangle, Black Mountain Peninsula, Mitchell, Weston, Woden and Gungahlin, effectively allowing riders to travel from the far north of the city to the south inside the geo-fencing perimeter.
Both commercial operators have a "three-strikes" policy on breaching rules, with riders risking being barred from the app for repeated rule-breaking such as not wearing a helmet and texting while riding.
E-scooters capable of exceeding 25kmh are not classed as "personal mobility devices" but as motor vehicles and subject to all the rules applicable to motor vehicles such as registration, MAI insurance, and a requirement to hold a licence.
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