A new report from the College of Physicians shows that e-scooters have become the main source of traumatic brain injuries among children treated at Temple Street Hospital.
The college is urging the Government to introduce tighter rules around e-scooter use, reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the report’s author Dr Irwin Gill said that although under-16s are banned from using e-scooters on public roads, a significant number of children are still being injured as a result of using them.
“E-scooters are now the leading cause of traumatic brain injury in children admitted to the National Neurosurgical Centre at Temple Street prior to May 2024, which is at the point when legislation came into effect,” he said, reports RTE.
“We had seen one child admitted with a traumatic brain injury, and in the 18 months since, we’ve seen 25 and counting, coming in with serious, serious injuries,” reports RTE.
“Many of the families of these children have told us that they were not aware of the existence of the legal age limit,” reports RTE.
Dr Gill said all 26 injured children had been using the scooters when their accidents occurred,
“All of them were riding the scooters and generally speaking, were riding them and fell off without there being any other vehicles involved,” he said, reports RTE.
“Children are losing control, hitting curves or potholes, or just falling off, going at speed and sustaining serious injuries as a result,” reports RTE.
He noted that only one of the children had been wearing a helmet when the incident happened.
“It’s important to say that helmets would help and would have prevented some of these injuries, as they would for any injury from a bicycle or a motorbike,” he said, reports RTE.
“But they would not have prevented all of these injuries and better helmet wearing wouldn’t completely fix this problem,” Dr Gill added, reports RTE.
Dr Gill said emergency departments were also reporting more e-scooter injuries among children, including fractured skulls and bleeding or bruising on the brain.
“My colleagues in the emergency department have seen a massive increase in children being brought to the emergency department with e-scooter injuries,” he said, reports RTE.
“We’re on track for approximately 400 attendances across CHI emergency departments this year. That’s more than one every day and that includes broken bones of other sorts, lacerations and other serious injuries,” reports RTE.
“The ones who were admitted to hospital with traumatic brain injuries are spending almost 19 days in hospital,” reports RTE.
“These are not injuries that children are just bouncing straight back from and leaving quickly. They’re serious injuries requiring an awful lot of health care,” he said, reports RTE.
Dr Gill said the brain injuries were causing longer-term effects in many of the children.
“We’re starting to see children come back to clinic where their parents and teachers are saying they’re really struggling to stay awake through school, or having desperate headaches later in the day or getting angry and snapping at things that they wouldn’t have done before,” he said, reports RTE.
“Those are all well-acknowledged consequences of traumatic brain injury that can play out over time, but because this is such a recent problem with such a worrying, alarming rate of increase, how many children we’re seeing, time will tell how much of a problem this is going to cause, but we’re very, very concerned,” he added, reports RTE.
Dr Gill said the college wants parents to be more alert to the risks and for greater enforcement of the rules.
“What we’re calling for is for parents to be aware that it is illegal for children under 16 to use any scooter on a public road,” he said, reports RTE.
“We’re calling for enforcement of the existing rules as they are, which seems to be that they exist in principle, but they’re not keeping children safe and safe in practice,” reports RTE.
“We’re also calling on Government to consider whether or not the rules we currently have are sufficient and need to be reconsidered,” Dr Gill said, reports RTE.
Speaking on the same programme, Assistant Commissioner for Roads Policing Catharina Gunne said those under 16 are banned from riding e-scooters.
“They’re also prohibited from having a passenger on an e-scooter. So, An Garda SÃochána has dynamometers, which check the speed of e-scooters,” reports RTE.
“We have one across every region. We have also legislation since they came into effect in May 2024,” reports RTE.
“And to date, we’ve issued 837 tickets, fixed charge notices,” reports RTE.
“We would appeal to any parent giving an e-scooter or anyone with an e-scooter that they’re permitted on public roads, cycle lanes and bus lanes,” but they are not permitted on footpaths or pedestrianised areas, she said, reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
