Injuries characteristic of accidents involving personal mobility devices

BACKGROUND: Personal mobility devices (PMDs) are rapidly increasing urban traffic. From 2020 to 2024, in Russia, the fleet of electric scooters grew more than 10-fold, the number of users increased 14-fold, and the number of trips increased 26-fold. This growth is related to a significant increase in injuries. In the first 9 months of 2024, the number of recorded road accidents involving PMDs reached 3,897 with 4,052 people injured and 44 people killed (an increase of 837, 825, or 340%, compared to 2021). Despite its relevance, systematic data on types of injuries and risk factors are limited as the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate only records injuries involving PMDs in cases of PMD collisions with motor vehicles or causing serious bodily harm. Cases of a person falling from a scooter are maintained in the medical record only. AIM: To study the characteristics of PMD-related injuries and to analyze the medical and social aspects of this issue in order to develop comprehensive steps to prevent PMD-related injuries. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective continuous study of 170 medical records of adult patients (aged ≥ 18 years) admitted to the City Clinical Hospital No. 1 named after N.I. Pirogov from May 2021 to May 2025 for injuries sustained while using electric scooters, unicycles, gyro scooters, or segways. The type of injury was verified by X-ray imaging and computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (if necessary); severity was assessed using the Injury Severity Score. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistica 13.5. RESULTS: Most patients with PMD-related injuries were admitted in the autumn and spring. The examined injured individuals were predominantly males (121, or 71.1%) aged 25 to 44 years (117, or 68.8%). The Injury Severity Scale showed that most injuries were minor with the score of 4 [4; 9]. Analysis of data from 170 patients showed 262 traumatic injuries. The structure of injuries was dominated by upper limb injuries (108 cases, or 41.2%), lower limb injuries (88 cases, or 33.6%), chest injuries (12 cases, or 4.6%), and wounds and bruises (54 cases, or 20.6%). Multiple limb injuries were diagnosed in 40 patients (23.5%) and combined craniocerebral and craniofacial injuries were diagnosed in 127 patients (74.6%). In the majority of cases (162, or 93.8%), fractures required surgical intervention. CONCLUSION: A retrospective analysis of 170 inpatient cases confirmed that PMD-related injuries is an independent clinical and epidemiology category: 95.9% of cases are related to the use of electric scooters, mainly by males aged 25–44 years, with a median Injury Severity Scale score of 4, osteosynthesis was required in 95.3% of patients, and mild traumatic brain injury was recorded in 74.7%.