Riding scooters is an increasingly popular outdoor activity for children. However, sometimes scooters and other wheeled toys can cause children serious injuries. As parents, grandparents, and caregivers, we need to be mindful of the facts about scooters to keep our kids safe.
Children should always wear helmets when riding a scooter. 19% of hospital admissions for scooter injuries to children in 2015 were because of a head injury. The best way to ensure that your child is wearing a helmet is to set a good example, so if you are riding along with your children on a bike or a scooter, be sure to wear one too! Even in an area where there is little traffic, hard surfaces can cause injury when the head strikes the ground.
Protective gear can help protect children from other common scooter accident injuries: fractures, contusions, and abrasions, most often to the limbs. Knee and elbow pads are recommended for everyone, especially beginners.
Plan ahead. Check out the scooter before your child goes for a ride and make sure there are no cracked, loose, or broken parts. Ride in safer locations on smooth, dry surfaces in well-lit areas away from traffic. Avoid riding in the dark when hazards are less visible, and children are less visible to traffic. It is always a good idea to wear reflective gear to increase visibility.
Teach your children how to be safe. Make sure they know the rules of the road and how to make traffic signals. Teach them to crouch down if they start to lose balance to reduce the distance to the ground, minimizing the impact from a fall.
To learn more about how to keep children safe while riding scooters or other wheeled toys, check out the Safe Kids Wheels Safety Study at https://www.safekids.org/sites/default/files/wheels_safety_study_2017-for_web.pdf.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 16 should not operate or ride on motorized or e-scooters. Injuries to children from motorized or e-scooters are over 3 times as likely to be severe as injuries from non-motorized scooters. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S153015670800169X#!
For children and adults that are old enough, check out https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/Pages/E-Scooters.aspx for tips on safely operating motorized and e-scooters.
If you or your child was injured in a scooter accident, call (704) 321-4878 today, or contact us online and we’ll reach out to you.
Stay safe!
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