Is the Scooter Trend Boosting Injuries?

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 16 -- Walk across a street in America these days, and you might find yourself jostling for space with others scooting across.

Scooters, first popular in Germany in the 1800s and revived in the 1950s, are back in a high-tech foldable version, with kids, dot-com executives and parents taking up the foot-powered charge. Rising along with their popularity, however, may be the number of injuries they cause.

Dr. Deborah Levine, a pediatric emergency room physician, says she started noticing children riding scooters in New York City early this summer and saw very few of them wearing protective gear. A month ago, Levine says she saw her first scooter injury case in Bellevue Hospital Center’s ER in midtown Manhattan where she works.

An 8-year-old boy was playing on a scooter he had rented in a park. When making a sharp turn, he fell off, hit his head and lost consciousness, Levine says. His 12-year-old sister and witnesses saw that the boy had fallen and called 911.

Once at the hospital, the boy received X-rays and a CAT scan. “He didn’t remember what had happened to him,” Levine says. “The work-up revealed he did not have any serious injuries. But he was lucky. Had he worn a helmet he probably would have been protected from the concussion.”

Since that time, she and other members of the ER staff have treated children with fractures and severe cuts needing sutures due to scooters, she says. The staff is beginning to record the nature of scooter injuries to help raise public awareness about their potential for serious harm to a child and to encourage use of helmets and protective gear.

The Latest Fad

Scooters began zooming across America in popularity last spring, with tens of thousands now sold weekly in supermarkets, warehouse outlets and toy shops.

Whether a Razor, Micro or Xootr, all popular brands, the scooter is like a skateboard with two wheels — usually — and an adjustable-height hand stick for navigating. Human foot power propels the sleek frame, which can weigh as little as 6 pounds and can fold up for easy carrying. They range in price from $50 to $500 and on straight surfaces will move at 5 to 6 miles per hour. The most popular and least expensive models are made in China.