AS I SEE IT
BY MARIANNE HERON
It would put the heart across you is a pretty graphic saying. Racing heartbeat, breath holding and a prickle of alarm about danger are some of the things that describe it. I had the heart put across me the other day as three young lads careered up the main street in my local town on e-scooters. Two were in the cycle lane, being raced by another on the pavement. They wore no helmets, travelling at near or over the 20kph limit.
It was the same day that physicians at Temple Street Hospital CHI reported that six children were in intensive care, four of them on life support, following serious accidents on e-scooters. E-scooter injuries now account for half the children in intensive care at the hospital. The figures involve children, when 2024 legislation limits e-scooter riding to over-16s. Accidents involving over-16s, especially in the 16 to 24 group of riders, are equally worrying, amounting to what the HSE has labelled a serious emerging health concern, and they have called for action.
E-scooters can be an efficient, inexpensive way to get about in our traffic-choked urban areas. But the incident above is by no means the first time I have had the heart put across me by young lads riding dangerously on these scooters.
The majority don’t involve other vehicles but are single-rider incidents, caused by kerbs, potholes and skids. On a scooter, given the high centre of gravity, the rider is likely to be hurled over the handlebars and the results are five times more likely to result in serious injury than when on a bicycle. Doctors describe child accident victims, typically boys aged 12-15, as falling “like little catapults,” often suffering crushed skulls and severe brain damage. Victims may suffer long-term effects and have difficulty returning to school. As one physician put it: “Brain damage can’t be repaired.”
The number of serious injuries involving e-scooters has doubled between 2021 and 2025, according to the Road Safety Authority (RSA). In 2021 there were 33 serious injuries; by 2025 that had risen to 79, probably in line with increased ownership, where 5% of adults use scooters regularly. There were nine fatalities in that period. Three quarters of those involved in accidents were young urban males under 25, a quarter were riding on footpaths and one in 10 were carrying a passenger, both of the latter being illegal.
Dr John Cronin, Emergency Medical Consultant at St Vincent’s and a member of the RSA, commented: “We’re seeing a high and growing number of incidents, particularly among younger people, often involving no helmet or use in inappropriate or unsafe settings. E-scooters offer real mobility benefits, but without responsible behaviour, they also bring a high risk of injury.”
Something needs to be done to prevent the carnage, but what? The College of Physicians have called for a total ban on e-scooters. A bit draconian for responsible riders when the real problem is with children and youths. Lads will be lads when it comes to thrill-seeking, known as young male syndrome driven by evolution and social competition. Maybe young lads should be banned from scooting, but they are going to take risks anyhow.
Currently, e-scooters don’t require insurance, nor are tests required for a licence, both of which might help to lessen the accident rate. The Gardaí have stepped up enforcement of regulations around scooters, involving speeding, under-age riding and failure to wear helmets.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Sean Canney, is weighing action on the problem, he told me in a weekend phone call.
“I confirm that I am looking at all options in relation to e-scooters. I am ruling nothing out.
“My focus is to ensure the measures I take will be effective and improve safety for all road users.
“Everyone has a responsibility, and I appeal to parents not to buy an e-scooter for any child under the age of 16 years as it is illegal. The reports from CHI this week on the number of children on life support is frightening.
“My officials are preparing an option paper for my consideration.”
Action following from the paper can’t happen too soon.
