How safe is it to ride an e-scooter in Edmonton?

Emily Rae Pasiuk · CBC News

· Posted: May 20, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

The trees are budding, flowers are blooming, the geese are back: it's e-scooter play successful Edmonton.

But conscionable however harmless is it to thrust 1 successful Edmonton?

A precocious published study looked astatine however galore radical visited an exigency country successful Edmonton for e-scooter injuries, implicit summers of 2019 to 2021. It recovered astir 760 cases.

Dr. Brian Rowe, who was portion of the survey and is an exigency country doc astatine the University of Alberta Hospital, said helium wanted to spot if the anecdotal emergence successful e-scooter injuries he was seeing could beryllium backed up with data.

"One successful 8 is simply a caput injury," Rowe told CBC News. 

"We request to proceed to publicize the information that riding a bike, an e-bike, an e-scooter has the imaginable to permission you with lifelong injuries to your head — and the simplest preventive strategy is to deterioration a helmet."

WATCH | E-scooters successful Edmonton: 

The median property of those injured was 28 years old, the survey found. Men and women were astir arsenic represented successful patients.

About 3 successful 5 patients suffered multiple injuries, with fractures (32 per cent) and caput injuries (17 per cent) being the astir common, the survey found.

Few radical (two per cent) wore helmets and roughly one-quarter of those injured had ridden while nether the power of substances, the survey says. 

Adam Zarycki has injured himself connected e-scooters much than once. His archetypal wipeout resulted in, what the doc described as, a "catastrophic" ankle sprain, helium said.

It happened aft he'd been drinking, Zarycki  said, and helium hasn't ridden an e-scooter aft having intoxicant since.

His 2nd wounded happened aft an anti-theft mechanics kicked successful connected the scooter portion helium rode southbound of Whyte Avenue, helium said.  

"It sent maine implicit the handlebars. And unfortunately, my autumn was atrocious capable that I bruised the femur connected my close leg," Zarycki said.

The numbers from the survey are not astatine each astonishing for Zarycki. He said helium knows a few clients from his enactment connected Whyte Avenue who person suffered atrocious injuries from e-scooters, peculiar adjacent the High Level Bridge.

"The walkways, the roadways get a small tighter. Definitely immoderate crashes and atrocious injuries, for sure," helium said.

Zarycki has kept riding, though. He said present helium question a small slower and tries to beryllium considerate of others utilizing the road.

He urged radical to not thrust with overconfidence.

"You spot a batch of folks zipping astir cars, ignoring halt signs, areas wherever determination aren't immoderate restrictions connected the scooter's use. Scooter users thin to disregard pedestrians and past they extremity up crashing and/or injuring idiosyncratic else," helium said.

Coun. Andrew Knack, who was a proponent of getting e-scooters to travel to Edmonton, said the indispensable information infrastructure is there, but radical request to beryllium much harmless successful their behaviour. 

"[E-scooters] can origin injuries and we privation radical to beryllium harmless connected them, but it's yet their prime of how harmless they privation to be," Knack said.

"I cannot urge capable that everyone — doesn't substance your age — should beryllium putting connected a helmet, should beryllium taking those turns safely, should be ringing the doorbell erstwhile you're passing somebody."

For Rowe, the exigency country doctor, a solution lies successful much nationalist education, and imaginable authorities connected helmet use. 

"Some radical don't similar it due to the fact that it's authorities interference, but it's really astir health," helium said.