If the sunny weather has you thinking of taking an e-scooter into downtown Austin, area doctors and medics are urging users to take precautions and protect themselves.  

Nicholas Steinour, the division chief of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Dell Medical School, earlier this month gave a speech about the dangers of e-scooters at the Austin Trauma and Critical Care Conference and raised concerns about the increase in scooter injuries over the last four years.

“I just don't know that we are doing enough to inform people who are out there in the community and look at these things and think, 'Oh, that's a convenient way to cruise around town,' and then the fun stops when the ambulance shows up,” Steinour told the American-Statesman.

A recent Austin Public Health study of e-scooter-related injuries found the majority of injured riders were first-time riders. These standup, battery-powered scooters, which first hit Austin streets in 2017, have sometimes resulted in severe injuries. 

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Jason Pickett, the chief deputy medical officer for the city of Austin who provides medical direction for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services, has treated scooter injuries, which he said are more common on the weekends and during special events when more people are out trying to navigate the city.

EMS medics typically see head injuries from not wearing helmets and upper body injuries from people getting their arms out in front of them when they fall off the scooters, Pickett said.

“I'm not opposed to scooters as an idea,” Pickett said. “They're energy-efficient and get people outside. And there are certainly benefits to traffic and pollution, environmental effects.”

But to enjoy the positives of such scooters, people must wear a helmet and be mindful of cars, Pickett said, a point that Steinour also stressed.

An Austin Public Health study of e-scooter injuries published in 2019 found that only 1.6% of adult patients with e-scooter-related injuries were wearing a helmet. It also found head and face injuries were the most common e-scooter-related injury.

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Steinour said those who own their own scooter might be less likely to sustain an injury because they might be more familiar with the mechanics of the device and know traffic rules better. He sees more injuries with people who rent e-scooters and don't know how to use them, he said, so the companies that rent them should encourage safety more.

The city of Austin has a website to educate people, but you have to look for it, Steinour said. The information should be readily available when someone is about to use an e-scooter, he said, adding that users should be required to watch a tutorial if they're a first-timer. The city also could post signs with guidance in areas where e-scooters congregate.

"I think many of these are people jumping on for the first time and, instead of exploring the website where some of the safety information exists, they're just bypassing that for speed and convenience to kind of get on to the next destination," Steinour said.

Another issue, Steinour said, is that scooters can also block pedestrian pathways and hinder accessibility for people using wheelchairs.

“I push my stroller around with my kids,” Steinour said. “I have to move these things off the sidewalks in order to get by and I thought, 'Man, if I was in a wheelchair, how would I navigate the sidewalk safely? I need somebody to help me move these things.' There are issues for the people who don't use them.”

Superpedestrian, a company founded out of the MIT urban planning department, makes bikes and the yellow-green scooters called Link found across Austin. Paul Steely White, vice president of public policy at the company, said it tries to keep sidewalks clear for pedestrians by keeping a close eye on scooter demand and supply. 

If daily trips per vehicle drop, it removes scooters from the streets to keep unused scooters from taking up pedestrian spaces. The company also increases safety by designing its scooters in-house, unlike most scooter companies that buy their vehicles from a third party.

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Superpedestrian recently got $125 million to expand safety features on its scooters. Unlike most e-scooters, which weigh 30-50 pounds, Links weigh around 60 pounds and have a lower center of gravity that allows for a smoother ride.

“Dr. Steinour is right to call for more rider education and helmet encouragement. We invest in an array of safety education and rider protection measures here at Superpedestrian, and we will continue to do more,” White said. “As and perhaps more effective, however, are protected lanes and other safety infrastructure improvements that have been shown to make streets safer for riders and pedestrians alike.”

One of the first e-scooter apps to hit the Austin market was Lime. The lime-colored scooters that have been in Austin since 2018. The global head of Trust and Safety for Lime Scooters, Jesse Murray, said 99.9908% of nearly 3 million Lime rides in Austin were completed safely and without a reported incident.

"To ensure our riders stay safe we're in the middle of an ongoing safety campaign communicating with our riders about how to ride safely and park responsibly in Austin," Murray said in a statement. "We're working with the city now on putting together an in-person safety training event in the coming weeks.”

Murray also underscored the need for better infrastructure that can protect scooter riders and pedestrians.

“We urge everyone concerned about street safety to join us in advocating for the safe streets infrastructure like protected bike lanes that we know keep people safe,” he said.

Bird, a competing e-scooter app, said in a statement that in Austin, 99.99% of rides completed safely, or 0.0017% of rides result in reported injuries involving medical treatment.

“The city of Austin and Bird share a commitment to providing the safest possible micro-electro transportation options and prioritizing alternatives to gas-powered cars,” Bird said.