LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Downtown Little Rock, you'll find no shortage of people traveling on two wheels.
Electronic scooters have become a popular mode of transportation since Lime entered the Capital City in January. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looks at the public health impact of rentable dockless scooters.
Lime riders McKenzie Thomas and Austin Burns say the scooters are a fun alternative to driving a car.
“it's easy to get around town, a lot less traffic that way, a lot less having to deal with cars and having to drive from place to place,” Thomas said.
“It's easier to find places to park far off and then drive [a scooter] up to where you want to be,” Burns said.
The April 2019 Dockless Electric Scooter-Related Injuries Study was published by the CDC and City of Austin, Texas. Researchers analyzed nearly a million e-scooter trips in Austin over a three month period and reported an injury rate of 14.3 per 100,000 rides.
“There may be a perception that a lot of the scooters were involved with collisions with motor vehicles – we didn't find that,” said Jeff Taylor, epidemiology and disease surveillance unit manager for Austin Public Health. "We found that falls were contributing to that. They were losing balance or hitting a curb or hitting a structure or light pole, for example."
Almost half of the injuries were to the head, and researchers found less than one percent of people hurt had a helmet on when they crashed.
“Studies have shown that bicycle riders reduce the risk of head and brain injuries by wearing a helmet. Helmet use might also reduce the risk of head and brain injuries in the event of an e-scooter crash,” the study reads in part.
As Thomas and Burns take off on their scooters for an evening on the town, they do so cautiously.
“It's like riding a bicycle or driving a car,” Burns said. “You're not going to be half paying attention while you're doing either one of those things. You should be engaged while you're doing it and not messing around.”
Lime’s trial period in the City of Little Rock was set to expire May 15. On Thursday, the mayor’s office said it will extend the agreement with Lime to continue e-scooter services in the city for another 120 days.