Electric scooters have turn into a typical sight in our cities. They are sometimes held up as a logo of recent micromobility, an answer that guarantees to scale back congestion, reduce travel times and reduce emissions. However, behind their promise and innovation lies a hidden danger: these vehicles pose a threat to the health and safety of young people.
World Health Organization What is identity? Physical inactivity as a “silent threat to global health”. Active movement – walking or cycling – is essentially the most effective option to combat this, because it integrates exercise into on a regular basis life, especially regular journeys reminiscent of going to and from school.
In light of this concern, several recent studies have checked out assisted mobility, and asked whether these vehicles steal opportunities for physical activity from young people. A study Shows that using e-bikes uses less energy than walking. This is because: e-bikes usually are not an lively technique of transportation, but a passive and assistive one. By replacing walking or cycling, they reduce the extent of day by day physical activity, e.g Another study What is indicated? Furthermore, since they take you to your destination, they make hybrid mobility by public transport less attractive.
If a teen replaces a 15-minute walk with a 5-minute ride on an electrical scooter, they lose a big a part of their day by day physical activity and interaction with their environment. Multiply that by hundreds of thousands of young people and the general public health implications are devastating, because it increases the danger of long-term non-communicable diseases.
We also cannot ignore the negative effects of electrical scooter use on psychological health. For example, these vehicles can change the social experience of going to high school – they will reduce the opportunities for social interaction offered by lively transportation, leading to fewer conversations and shared experiences.
Risk of great injury
Apart from social and health risks, the rise of assisted micromobility has led to an alarming increase within the variety of accidents. The data is evident: from the information Spanish Directorate General for Traffic shows that in 2024, 459 people were hospitalized as a consequence of accidents involving personal mobility vehicles (mainly electric scooters).
Data from other European countries confirm this trend. i GermanyFor example, deaths increased by 27 percent. Half of those injured were under the age of 25.
Other studies revealed that, amongst young people, electric scooters cause more accidents than bicycles, resulting in injuries reminiscent of complex fractures, traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. The speed they will reach, the instability of their small wheels, and the shortage of specialised infrastructure mix to make traveling on them dangerous.
There are several other elements to this dangerous cocktail. These include a false sense of security, underuse of helmets, lack of road safety education, and youth inexperience in maneuvering at high speeds in urban environments.
Bicycles: The Real Future of Transportation
The solution just isn’t to ban scooters, but to advertise healthy and sustainable alternatives. Bicycles, not necessarily electric ones, are the important thing to mobility for brief and medium urban trips.
Bicycles offer a triple advantage that electric scooters cannot match:
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health: We expend energy while cycling, which contributes to day by day physical activity and improves psychological and social outcomes.
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Durability: Bicycles produce no emissions, making them invaluable within the fight against climate change.
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Safety: Although bikes usually are not risk-free, their design, durability and existing cycling infrastructure improve each perceived and actual safety.
But Spanish network for an active and healthy childhoodwe strongly imagine that youth mobility needs to be lively, not assisted. It is significant that urban planning policies, teachers and families all prioritize the creation of protected and attractive environments for young people to walk and cycle.
To improve public health and the health of the planet, we want to speculate in:
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Safe, segregated cycle lanes
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Measures related to pedestrian areas and traffic use
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Measures that enable motorcyclists to share road space with motorcars
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Active road safety teaching programs, each out and in of faculty settings
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Campaigns highlighting the physical and mental advantages of cycling.
An electric scooter is great for getting around, but not for health. We must be certain that the following generation doesn’t sacrifice physical activity for convenience. Both healthy youth and a greener planet are inside our reach, but provided that we encourage young people to be more lively.