Look around , and you ’ll recover no shortage of stories aboutthe rise of injurieslinked to rentable e - scooters . But until you ’ve read firsthand news report of shatter arms and metal plate in face , it ’s hard to grasp just how completely these piffling scooties canwreck your Irish bull .
Earlier this year , a Consumer Reports investigation identifiedover 1,500 injuries and four deathsconnected to vitamin E - scooters since 2017 . To get a dear sense of what a rent - a - ice yacht shipwreck looks like , Gizmodo turn to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ’s ( CPSC)public information database , which collects injury reports submitted by safety official , health care actor , and ordinary Americans .
Anonymized and unvetted , the CPSC “ does not undertake the accuracy , completeness , or adequateness ” of these anecdotal account . Still , the reported e - scooter incident provide a grisly glimpse at the injury behind the dry statistics . Broken tooth , a six - figure hospital bill , and a human face “ spurt ” blood are just some of the outcomes e - motor scooter injured party say they ’ve suffered . interpret the theme , all of which were submitted in the last five months and have had identifying information redact by the CPSC , below .
Photo:CPSC
Incident Date:2025-01-26
My 22 year old daughter was using a Lime Electric Scooter in Old Town , Scottsdale AZ . The pavement took a sharp turn of events and the scooter was unable to stop to slow down to take the corner . As a result , she was thrown off the sea scooter and was knocked unconscious for over 10 minutes . She suffered severe head injury as well as trauma to the lower back , chest , weapon system and face . She was read by ambulance , unconscious to the closest trauma ER hospital . She bear a double skull fracture and Einstein bleed and swell to the head . She remained in the ICU for 4 daytime and was beam home . Upon render home , she suffered utmost pain which was uncontrollable from non IV meds , from the psyche bleed “ feathering ” out in close areas of her brain , and break back to the ICU in infirmary again . She lose a month of work , and is await at a 120 K infirmary visor to date .
Incident Date:2025-03-30
I rented a Bird electric iceboat for the first time . I was riding it from campus to an off campus parking mickle . I had never engage one before . It started to wobble but I did not think of anything of it . I stay to ride and when I go bad down a slight slope the saloon that holds the handlebar detached from the scooter and I flipped over where the handlebar should be . I end up pass to the ER which it was resolve that I sort my shoulder . I have been in a sling since the incident and will still be in a triangular bandage for a few week .
Incident Date:2025-01-15
On the day of the month of December 29 , 2018 on why working in San Diego , a spouse of mine and myself rented Lime Scooters to trip back to our hotel after dinner party . During the ride while spoil an Cartesian product sidewalk , I locomote over a 2 - 4 in curve walk which caused my ice yacht to flip toward launching me foward over the iceboat face first on the paving . I was hotfoot to the infirmary and was diagnosed with a busted jaw , split lip , impoverished teeth , open cutting off chin , and dislocated articulatio humeri . Four plates were inclose throughout my cheek along with stitches . My business organization is the tire on the Lime scooters should be bigger for skillful shock on bumpy roads .
Incident Date:2025-03-09
I receive an harm on a Lime Bike Scooter in Santa Clara St , business district San Jose . The hold taproom wobble to the left and I fell .
alas it resulted in two busted tooth and scuffed face . My dental practitioner express my indemnity will not cover all the fee .
On June 15th , I rented a Lime Scooter bike in [ REDACTED ] and was riding the sea scooter along the sidewalks in the business district arena and when I break to intersect the street and was going up the crosswalk Allium tricoccum the front wheel conk out off which induce me to fall off face onward into the pavement @ [ REDACTED ] about 5:00pm . I had blood gush out of my font onto the sidewalk and I went to the elevator car haunt store on the corner ( A Street Auto Service ) where the guy wire in the workshop helped me with newspaper towels and call Lime customer avail to account the incident and then I went to the hospital . On my manner to the hospital I called Lime customer service again to report the incident and location of the bike . On both calls , we were tell there is no department to treat reporting injury and I had to e-mail my information . I went to Mercy Hospital and needed three stitch in my mentum and was pass medication for pain to my arm and shoulder from the dip . Upon my return home to [ REDACTED ] , on June 22nd I did get the stitches charter out by my local doctor
I did lodge a claim with the company after the incident on 6/15/18 and as of today , the company has neglected to follow up with even a simple phone call to help me pay the parking brake room bill . I have tried to contact them and get off multiple emails with no reply for 5 calendar month . I do n’t conceive that this party is creditworthy and able to deal this issue with the serious product that they are providing .
Incident Date:2024-12-10
I was point West on [ REDACTED ] towards the [ REDACTED ] carrefour when I resolve I was ready to terminate my ride and cast off the ice yacht off in a Bird - approved locating ( on the sidewalk ) . I found a ramp in front of the garage of the Jewish Federation of Greater [ REDACTED ] ( [ REDACTED ] ) .
However , when the front wheel of the sea scooter hit the 1.5″ curb of the forestage , I was thrown off the scooter . The front wheel lay off when it hit the curb .
I feel that , this scooter ( Byrd ) is defective because the wheel should have been able to make it over the 1.5 ” curb .
Because of this fortuity / incident I tolerate a close trimalleolar break of my ankle . I went through surgery and still recuperate .
Incident Date:2025-05-13
Was ride LIME SCOOTER with THUMB BRAKE as opposed to lever tumbler bracken . When I require to stop , I describe that the thumb pasture brake was not working at all , and I crashed . Luckily I have only a severe sprained ankle and crutches for some clock time and nothing worse . I did go to infirmary .
Incident Date:2025-04-15
Lime unripe and white-hot galvanising rental ice yacht . Riding and wheel locked without warning . I was throw into a street and broke my sleeve in the fall . Many such reports convinced me to retain an lawyer and file a lawsuit against Lime .
Was my 23rd drive with Lime scooters so i m no unpaid . This thing malfunction period of time . lime recalled its entire fleet from Switzerland last calendar month due to this same progeny .
Incident Date:2025-02-02
On August 19,2018 . I was vacation in [ REDACTED ] with my family , and decided to ride an galvanic lime scooter . After riding the scooter for a few minutes , one of the scooter that I rented was not working properly due to malfunction of the brake . The geological fault on the lime water scooter were not working during the incident . I examine to slow down and block the scooter before a curvy turn and the gaolbreak were not work . Therefore I lose mastery of the sea scooter and terminate up with a mightily broken r bone , wrist dislocation and disruption on my right ankle . [ … ]
Incident Date:2025-03-16
I lease a Lime water scooter on the 16th September . I was a first - meter drug user and suffered a tumble when I transitioned from the street to the proscenium of a garage drive . There was a 1 inch lip between the street and the drive , which caused the scooter to buck . I was thrown off the scooter and broke my pin with my correct arm ( I stiff - build up my fall while holding my ribbon out to absorb the impact ) . The fall tore two ligaments / brawniness in my right shoulder , which required operating theater , which i had on the 16th of October . [ … ]
call for for comment , a Lime interpreter told Gizmodo “ the safety of our rider and the residential district is our highest priority ” and spotlight the company’srecent safety initiatives , such as a pledge to give out 250,000 free helmet .
“ We depend forward to continue work on with the industry , medical community of interests and regulators to create a meaningful ecosystem for this new and develop technology , ” the interpreter added .
Similarly , Paul Steely White , Bird ’s manager of guard policy and advocacy , told Gizmodo in a argument that :
base hit preface everything we do at Bird , and operators and urban center likewise must act to better rubber . Bird formed theGlobal Safety Advisory Board , which shapes policies that improve the safety of those ride Birds and other e - scooters .
He also pointed to Bird ’s safety initiatives , such as requiring riders to verify they ’re 18 and cease operations after midnight .
In the yesteryear , the company has react to composition of e - scooter injuries bycomparingthemto the far greater number of Americans killed in car accident . But most people know a F-250 can sour you into Lycopersicon esculentum paste . few plausibly realize that the braggy - son Razor you rent for a buck a drive can hit 15 sea mile an minute and leave you with “ brain bleed . ”
In finish , ride dependable , check your brake , and fag a goddamn helmet .
CPSCLime
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