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A push for scooter safety
By JENNIFER FARRELL © St. Petersburg Times, published January 23, 2001 They're sleek, lightweight and hip, and during the holidays they topped gift lists across the country. But the wildly popular fold-up scooters, whose sales stretched into the millions last year, are sending riders to emergency rooms in record numbers.
At All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, some staffers refer to the "Scooter Fracture Club." The first two patients wheeled into Tampa General Hospital's pediatric emergency room on Christmas Day were scooter victims. Most common are cuts, bruises, broken arms and wrists. But a growing list of fatalities has worried experts, stepping up the push for stricter safety precautions. "Probably 80 percent of the injuries we see are in children who did not have total protection," said Dr. Gregory Gaar, director of pediatric emergency care at Tampa General Hospital. "They're not wearing the right protection and they're also not terribly attentive with them. They get distracted, and they don't watch for cars."
Stewart suffered massive head injuries after he hit the windshield and was thrown to the pavement. He died Saturday. Anthony, who authorities said was riding single-file behind his brother, was released from Bayfront Medical Center with no broken bones. Neither boy was wearing a helmet. "We know that wearing a helmet and knee and elbow pads is going to prevent a lot of the injuries with scooters," said Mark Ross, a spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "We've basically recommended that people use the same guidelines as for in-line skates or skateboards." Stewart's friends described him as a daredevil. He would try spins and leaps on his scooter, but he would not recklessly test the traffic. "He would never get hurt," neighbor Steven Dumaine said. "But he was crazy." After school Monday, kids gathered near the accident scene to place flowers, cards, teddy bears and other mementos around a white wooden cross staked by the road.
On Jan. 6, a 10-year-old boy from Forest, Ohio, died after a fall from a scooter. The other two deaths were in September. A man died in Richmond, Va., after falling and hitting his head, and a 6-year-old boy was hit by a car while riding a scooter in Elizabeth, N.J. The new scooters, a far cry from the larger, slower models popular in the 1950s, are a high-tech version of the old standard. Most are made of lightweight aluminum. With small, low-friction wheels, they are capable of speeds of 10 mph or more. They weigh less than 10 pounds and cost between $50 and $100. In September, scooter injuries topped in-line skating injuries for the first time, safety commission spokesman Ross said. As a rule, he said, scooters require about the same skills and balance as a bicycle, a fact that sometimes is lost on parents. St. Petersburg pediatrician Mark Morris said the new scooters appeal to a broader and slightly younger age group than skateboards or in-line skates. "I think the nostalgia and the innocent look to it keeps people off the alert," he said. "Riding something other than a car in a car-oriented world is very risky. . . . I just recommend that they treat it exactly like a bicycle; It's just as dangerous." Spring Hill resident Rick Challis is one of a growing number of parents who are weary of scooters. His 11-year-old son, Alex, wanted one for Christmas. "He didn't get one," Challis said. "I said they're just too dangerous. . . . The number of injuries has increased tenfold. And these are serious injuries. They are no longer scrapes." Challis, an assistant Boy Scout master, blamed several design factors, including the souped-up wheels and the more narrow wheel base. He compared the wheel base of the scooters to that of another trendy mode of transportation: the sport utility vehicle. "With SUVs, the wheels are too close, and they tend to roll over. With (the scooters') short wheel base, they're unstable," he said. He added that the design causes riders to the feel bumps more on scooters than on skateboards and bikes. "And it's not fun to hit a bump on a sidewalk. So they take it out into the street, where it's smooth," he said. Eventually, Challis predicted, the high number of scooter injuries will spell the end of their sale: "I'm sure these things are going to be taken off the market." - Times staff writers Jamie Malernee and Robert King contributed to this report.
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