Many victims of scooter accidents are young people.
Last month alone, there were two fatal scooter accidents in South Florida while commuting to school. On Monday, 16-year-old Anthony Malek was riding an electric scooter to school when he was struck and killed by a Tesla. On March 5, University of Miami senior Daniel Bishop was struck and killed while riding a scooter in class. Bishop attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas and survived the 2018 mass shooting.
In car-dependent regions like South Florida, scooters have served as a stopgap solution to the “last mile” problem, the final leg of the journey, such as from home to campus or between a Brightline station and the office. . “Micromobility” devices are an attractive option for people who live close to their destination and don't have ready access to a car.
But the region's dependence on automobiles also makes it a dangerous place for scooter riders, with roads and intersections often quiet, unexpected, or barely visible. The deaths of two students within weeks of each other highlight the dangers of the growth of new technology at odds with South Florida's lifestyle. And just like on state roads, state laws and accident reporting procedures often don't account for scooters.
“This is a case where technology has outpaced our infrastructure and resources,” said Todd Falzone, an attorney with Kelly Ustal who represents scooter accident victims. “Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.”
Mr. Falzone represented the family of 27-year-old Ashanti Jordan, who was left in a vegetative state after an accident on a Lime scooter while returning home from work in Fort Lauderdale.
“The injuries I saw were really bad,” he said. “Horrible, horrific injuries and deaths.”
“Increasingly mainstream”
Colton Ralston runs Boca Scooters, one of the only electric scooter shops in South Florida. He said his customers are mostly commuters who appreciate lower-cost options, from one-car families to college students to hospitality workers.
Ralston said the technology “really started taking off in 2018,” but each year new customers emerge looking to join the trend.
“They're becoming more and more mainstream,” Ralston says. “As technology and everything has evolved, so has the culture surrounding it. It's an ever-evolving process, as with anything technology-based, and electric scooters and kick scooters have certainly been embraced by the masses. .”
As their popularity increases, accidents involving ultra-compact mobility devices such as scooters and electric bicycles are rapidly increasing nationwide. A recent report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found that injuries increased by 21% from 2021 to 2022. From 2017 to 2022, more than a third of his injuries were children under the age of 14.
Scooters began arriving in South Florida through rideshare programs in 2019, but many services were shut down after a spike in accidents. While some related to the suddenly large number of scooters available, the improvised nature of ride-sharing systems meant riders were inexperienced, not wearing helmets, or combining drinking and riding. I often did this.
According to Fire Rescue data, the number of accidents in Fort Lauderdale increased year over year from 2019 to 2022. The paramedics responded to 175 accidents within that period. In 2020 he had 47 accidents, in 2021 he had 52 accidents, and in 2022 he had 72 accidents.
Similar trends occurred elsewhere. A recent study of Tampa General Hospital's emergency room found that the largest number of scooter accidents, nearly one-third, were caused by people between the ages of 21 and 30. Injuries spiked shortly after scooters were introduced in 2019, and have steadily increased every year since.
Bans reduce accidents, but not uniformly
Since 2019, some cities in South Florida have banned scooters and scooter companies to quell accidents. For the first time, Hollywood bans the use of all types of scooters on “city streets, driveways, sidewalks, or other private property on which the public has motor vehicle rights within the city,” according to the city's ordinance. A 2023 study of trauma centers found that the city of Miami revoked permits from multiple scooter companies in 2022, and accidents have since declined.
These measures will continue until 2024, and scooters were banned in Key Biscayne in February. Just this week, Miami-Dade County began considering speed limits for scooters and e-bikes.
But while growing in popularity across the country, privately owned scooters remain unregulated in many cities. At the same time, official reports often lump scooter users together with pedestrians and other types of mobility devices, making accidents difficult to track. A 2022 National Transportation Safety Board report on electric scooters and bicycles cited a lack of law enforcement and injury data as one of the key safety issues.
In Fort Lauderdale, Battalion Chief Greg May said the Fire and Rescue Service has stopped tracking accidents starting in 2022 because the number of accidents has dropped dramatically since the city rescinded an ordinance allowing ride-sharing scooters. Stated. However, privately owned scooters are still legal.
“Once companies discontinued scooters, incidents stopped happening,” May explained. “Right now, a child could be riding a scooter and have an accident, but we treat it like any other phone call.”
The Broward Coroner's Office has recorded 49 fatalities related to scooter-related accidents since 2019, but that number does not refer to the number of fatalities involving electric scooters or sit-down electric scooters that resemble motorcycles. is difficult. Director Thomas Steinkamp said only three of the dead specifically mentioned electric scooters.
Teo Shah, one of the study's lead researchers, said the study at Tampa General encountered a similar problem with scooter types not being identified, leading researchers to remove a set of data. He says he was forced to do so.
The Broward Sheriff's Office could not provide accurate data on scooter accidents because they are not identified in the state's traffic accident report, spokeswoman Carrie Codd said.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles classifies scooter accidents as “other non-motor vehicle” data, which includes people other than pedestrians and bicyclists, spokeswoman Molly Best said. he said. The 2022 report, the most recent report for which data is available, found that “other non-vehicle” accidents increased by 20% between 2021 and 2022.
The legal situation surrounding scooters is also confusing, experts say. State law allows scooters, but much of the regulation is left to local governments, which has left lawmakers struggling to decide where they should go.
“There are basically two options,” said Falzone, of Kelly Ustal. “One option is to leave them on the sidewalk, where there is a risk that the scooters will run over people on the sidewalk.Another option is to leave the scooters on the street, where people will run over the scooter operators with their cars. The problem arises.”
As a result, laws vary widely from city to city. Fort Lauderdale was once the only city to ban scooters from roadways and require them to ride on sidewalks, Falzone said, while other cities banned scooters from sidewalks and required them to ride on sidewalks. It is said that it was compulsory to drive. Some areas, such as Tampa, allow bicycle lanes.
Additionally, some municipalities in South Florida have implemented outright bans, while others have no restrictions on scooters. Spokesman Greg May said Broward County does not have a comprehensive law regarding scooter use.
In Fort Lauderdale, personal scooters must be ridden in bike lanes and are only allowed on sidewalks when bike lanes are unavailable, according to city code.
In Coral Gables, where Bishop was hit, city ordinances state that scooters can only be ridden on sidewalks, but at speeds of 15 mph or less.
Meanwhile, the city of Cooper, where Malek was struck, “does not have specific regulations regarding the speed of electric scooters or where and how they may be used,” city spokesman Michael Covelo said in an email. . Electric scooters are currently included in the definition of “vehicle”.
Accidents continue
Despite the ban, scooter accidents still occur, often resulting in collisions with cars.
In March 2023, an 18-year-old student riding an electric scooter in Wellington was struck by a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy who ignored a stop sign, according to local media and a PBSO accident report. In September of the same year, a 49-year-old man riding an electric scooter in Greenacres was struck and killed by a car turning left at an intersection.
It is unclear how many total accidents have occurred in Palm Beach County in recent years. Officials were working on a request for scooter accident data but had not received a response by Friday.
Dr. Jason Mansour, an emergency physician at Broward Health Medical Center, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that although the number of patients he sees with injuries from scooter accidents has decreased since the rise of ride-share scooters. , said this accident remains “one of the most common accidents.” Common mechanisms of trauma. ”
Mansour said, as with cyclists, accidents are often not the scooter rider's fault, but scooter riders may be more vulnerable.
“When you're riding something like a bicycle, you're a little bit more likely to avoid a collision,” he says. “I don't think electric scooters are agile enough to make sudden changes in direction.”
Ralston says the onus is on the customers who buy his scooters. Although he encourages the use of helmets, he doesn't think the risks are greater than other forms of transportation.
“You always feel anxious when you leave the house, right?” Ralston said. “I look both ways before crossing the road. It's the same thing, but it depends on where you're riding. If you're talking at FAU's beachfront campus, that's not the case, it's a much more controlled environment. .”
Meanwhile, Falzone argued that scooters should be banned until South Florida's infrastructure supports them.
“Given the resources that government agencies have, it's not like someone can spend $1 billion to retrofit Fort Lauderdale to accommodate scooters,” he said. “…I think it's a technology that we're not ready for yet. Maybe it will be in 20 years, but we're not there right now.”
