Doctors are pleading with e-scooter riders to take extra care after an increase in people getting injured and ending up in hospital.
The Gold Coast University Hospital and Robina Hospital treated 126 people for e-scooter injuries in 2021.
There were 21 people injured in December alone, an increase of at least 20 per cent.
Gold Coast University Hospital emergency department consultant Dr Bally Grewal says the injuries being suffered are varied.
“They can range from bumps and sprains of ankles and elbows and wrists to the more significant limb injuries which can include open fractures of the tibia where there’s bone on show which can be very easily contaminated causing infections,” Dr Grewal said.
“And then some significant head injuries as well causing intracranial bleeds and traumatic brain injuries which can be quite devastating to recover from.”
Doctors say while more males are getting injured, it’s not always young people who are ending up in hospital.
Around 42 per cent of people injured in e-scooter accidents on the Gold Coast were aged between 34 and 53.
Dr Grewal says while scooters are fun, the end result can be catastrophic.
“One wrong foot can lead one young person to have a lifetime of consequences that are quite significant, if not fatal. So our message is obviously just to take care.”
