A new national report has found hospitalisations linked to e-scooters have tripled in five years.
The sharpest rise was among boys aged 12 to 15.
It’s the first time the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has mapped e-scooter and e-bike accident data nationally.
Here’s what else it found.
Background
E-scooters and e-bikes have become a common way to get around.
An estimated 3.6 million Australian adults used an e-scooter in 2022, according to We Ride Australia.
Rules differ state to state.
In Victoria, riders must be 16 or over and can’t ride on footpaths, whereas Queensland allows footpath riding and lets 12 to 17 year olds ride with a parent supervising.
E-scooters
In 2024-25, there were 4,089 hospitalisations in the group that includes e-scooters, more than three times the 1,291 recorded in 2019-20.
Males made up 69% of hospitalisations.
The biggest rise was among boys aged 12 to 15.
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Fractures were the most common injury, making up 58% of hospitalisations.
AIHW spokesperson Jacqueline Rek said the data is “consistent with the growing popularity of e-scooters in Australia over recent years.”
E-bikes
Hospital data puts e-bike riders in a group with mopeds and motor scooters.
Because of this, e-bikes are difficult to distinguish in the data, and these trends are less specific.
However, in 2024-25, there were 2,297 hospitalisations in that group.
The biggest increases were among young males, with sharp rises for 12 to 15 and 16 to 24 year olds.
Only Western Australia had a minimum age restriction for e-bikes during the reporting period.
Pedestrians
While most hospitalisations involved people riding these vehicles, the report also identified injuries among pedestrians.
In 2024-25, 164 pedestrians were hospitalised after collisions with powered scooters.
Another 147 were hurt in collisions with e-bikes or motorcycles.
“While pedestrian injuries are less common, they are appearing in hospital data and warrant ongoing monitoring as e-scooters and e-bikes become more common in Australian communities,” Rek said.
