Doctors apprehensive about e-scooters as students return to Dunedin

Thursday, 7 February 2019

Matt McNeill, of Lime, talks up the new craze at the launch of the e-scooters in Dunedin in January.

Emergency doctors are worried the number of injuries from electric scooters will spike as thousands of students roll back into Dunedin.

Lime scooters were introduced to the city in early January and have been keeping emergency services busy with call-outs, including a serious crash involving University of Otago student Renee Whitehouse.

The 26-year-old remains in Dunedin Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

A Dunedin student riding a Lime scooter was injured in a crash involving a truck .

Dunedin Hospital emergency department clinical leader Dr John Chambers said staff had dealt with several 'e-scooter patients with painful and serious injuries in the past few weeks'.

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Anecdotally, staff were initially dealing with five to seven such cases each day, 'directly attributable to Lime scooters'.

The number had since reduced to one or two a day, he said.

Emergency services were called to a reported crash between a car and a person on an e-scooter on Tuesday morning, though no-one was injured.

'[I am] apprehensive about the next few weeks when thousands of young students will come back into town and many will be tempted to have a go,' Chambers said.

'We urge students to be sensible, stay safe and wear a helmet.'

Helmets were now compulsory in Brisbane for 'good reason', he said.

'It is also important that scooter users realise that pedestrians may not hear them coming up behind them at some speed.'

Lime spokesman Matt McNeill said at the Dunedin launch last month that he believed the scooters would be popular with students.

Thousands of students are returning to the city this month for the start of the new academic year.

The city's e-scooter riders have already made national headlines, including several Baldwin St daredevils, a La-Z-Boy rider, and two people seen riding a mattress over two scooters.