Campus crash course: The unseen hazard of e-scooters on campus

Graphic credit // Brianna Barbaro

Walking on a campus as beautiful as the University of Miami’s should be a peaceful experience, not one that involves constantly having to dodge people operating scooters. Throughout the school year, all kinds of students use scooters to get from class to class without the hassle of having to walk. However, almost no one who uses them has sufficient experience to properly operate them, highlighted by the numerous on-campus pedestrian reports about run-ins with them. 

To avoid similar occurrences in the future, UM needs to implement scooter lanes and restrictions on who can scoot around campus. Some may argue that the university already has plenty of these regulations in place, but the only real regulations in place are where the scooters can be parked and which buildings they are allowed into, which are not helpful in terms of injury regulation. 

Scooters cause the most pedestrian injuries of any form of transportation. According to the personal injury law practice RA&M, research determined that the rate of injuries caused by e-scooters is 115 injuries per million trips, far greater than that of the national injury rate for cars (eight per million trips) and motorcycles (104 per million trips).

“I was walking by Smoothie King when all of a sudden a scooter comes flying towards my family and I at full speed making no effort to slow down.” Said sophomore Maddie Darby. “The girl slammed into my step-mom’s left side and didn’t even stop to check if she was ok. Instead she raced off and  my step-mom had a huge bruise on her arm the next day.” 

Medical Professionals have compared the severeness of the injury to, “being tackled by a football player,” sometimes even resulting in fatalities. On a more severe note, research reports have also shown that fatalities have been on the rise as the use of e-scooters has increased, with a total of 27 fatalities reported from 2017-2019.  

After my friend got hit by a scooter, he said that he “felt sore for days” and he “couldn’t even walk without being in pain.”

In order to prevent further accidents the university should consider solutions proposed by ConsumerReports.org. The researchers suggest bike lanes and allowing the e-scooter drivers to operate the scooters on “smooth well-maintained surfaces.” Additionally, Fort Lauderdale city leaders are looking to ban scooters from busy sidewalks, leading to the possible formation of e-scooter lanes. 

Even if you’ve never actually been hit by a scooter, you most likely have been the victim of a near-miss on campus. RA&M researchers reported that these pedestrians who dodge these almost-accidents “…may be traumatized by the near-misses that leave them afraid to walk their normal route again.”  

I myself have been here for only six weeks and have lost count of the number of times I have been a victim of this. Everytime a scooter turns in my direction, I flinch. So in addition to causing physical harm to victims, constant run-ins with these micromobility devices can induce mental trauma as well.

Most near misses are due to the instability of the e-scooters and the fact that the operator of the scooter doesn’t have sufficient experience when it comes to driving the e-scooter, which is no fault of the pedestrian.

Torklaw.com claims that new scooter riders in general don’t have extensive experience as they are operating a foreign vehicle. On top of that, new riders are further challenged as scooters have the tendency to “lock up or become wobbly, especially when a rider suddenly swerves or applies the emergency brake.” Additionally, while the university does have pretty paths that are perfect for a good stroll, roadway defects are inevitable. These defects add on to the probability of accidents caused, as “they could cause a motorized scooter to lose control, and fall or be thrown from the vehicle.”  

While they are efficient methods of transportation, not everyone needs to be using e-scooters on campus. Student athletes should be one of very few exceptions. 

Athletes use e-scooters to recover from high-endurance exercises or training and cut out transit time from practice to class. ​​UC Health professionals have proven that the process of muscle recovery only occurs when athletes are resting. Scooters let their muscles have this much-needed break, prioritizing their health and performance. 

While e-Scooters are an effective way of getting around, regulations need to be put in place at UM to avoid any further injuries or mishaps in regards to e-scooter use. E-scooters are already unstable to operate, but when combined with lack of experience they become dangerous to the user and to surrounding pedestrians.