Kids’ e-scooter injuries balloon four-fold in just three years

The number of children ending up in Victoria’s emergency departments due to e-scooter injuries has ballooned four-fold in just the past three years, new research has revealed.

In 2022, 64 children aged between two and 14 presented to the state’s emergency departments with e-scooter injuries but by 2025, that had increased to 263, according to an analysis by University of NSW researchers published today.

This is despite it being illegal for children under 16 to ride the controversial emobility devices in the state.

“The increase in injuries among children appears to be linked to the growing availability of privately owned e-scooters,” UNSW’s Dr Lisa Sharwood said.

While share-hire schemes for e-scooters are common in Victoria, they are fitted with age verification systems designed to block under 16s from using them.

“E-scooters are not toys – they can travel at speeds capable of causing serious injuries, including fractures and head injuries,” Sharwood said.

“Access to more powerful devices should be matched to experience, maturity and the ability to manage risk.”

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There were 4694 emergency department presentations linked to e-scooters between 2022 and 2025, including 79 pedestrians who were struck by riders.

While children are the fastest-growing group getting injured, young men remain the most likely to be injured, accounting for 71.4 per cent of all hospital presentations.

More than one in three injured riders arrived at the emergency department by ambulance, and were classified as urgent or emergency cases.

The most common type of injury was a head injury, followed by injuries to the wrist, hand and forearm.

“Emergency clinicians are not simply treating scrapes and bruises due to e-scooter injuries,” Sharwood said.

“They are seeing fractures, head injuries and injuries affecting multiple parts of the body.”

E-scooters and e-bikes have come under the spotlight in recent years amid ongoing debate over how best to regulate them.

In Queensland, new laws come into effect on July 1 banning children under 12 from using e-mobility devices and allowing teens aged 12 to 17 to use them only with parental supervision.

However, the father of Jasmine Flowers, who was left with a fractured skull and a brain bleed following an escooter accident, described the laws as “too little, too late”.

The research has also raised questions over the implementation of such bans in practice.

Victoria has banned children under 16 riding e-scooters since 2022, yet almost half of the children injured between 2022 and 2025 were riding on the road.