E-bikes and scooters have become increasingly common modes of transportation in Toronto and worldwide because of their convenience and affordability. Clinicians and researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital are finding new ways to create a safer experience for e-bike and e-scooter users and pedestrians through action-oriented research.

The number of people injured by e-bikes and e-scooters across Canada has been doubling every year. The injuries ranged from minor scrapes to open fractures and traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. Hospital admissions involving injured riders and pedestrians are on the rise everywhere each year.

In response, clinicians and researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital are leading a new study to better understand the situations and behaviours that have led to this increase, and to find targeted ways to reduce risk and improve care for people after they are discharged from the hospital. The study is a collaboration between St. Michael’s Injury Prevention Research Office, the trauma program, St. Michael’s Emergency Department and various Emergency Departments across the city.

“It’s likely that there are local and regional factors related to the prevalence and severity of injuries,” says Dr. Steve Lin, Chief of the Emergency Department at St. Michael’s Hospital. “Together, we will review data on high-risk behaviours and locations, as well as injury patterns, to inform policies related to transportation planning, education, and regulations.” 

Enjoying this story? Sign up for the Unity Health Toronto newsletter, a monthly update on the latest news, stories, patient voices and research emailed directly to subscribers. 

This project includes three phases, supported by a 3-year grant from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s Road Safety Research Partnership Program.

Phase one is a five-year retrospective chart review, analyzing data ranging from injury patterns to length of hospitalizations. In addition, ED patients with micromobility vehicle-related injuries will be interviewed to gain more insight about the injury contexts and concerns regarding safety. Phase two will then use all of this data to develop an intervention that can be implemented in the ED. The final phase will evaluate the intervention and outcomes. All three phases will be overseen by the formation of a road safety community action committee (CAC) to provide feedback on the appropriateness of proposed interventions.

Possible intervention to address these injuries could focus on a mix of possibilities such as targeted education, engineering and policy, and even financial approaches.

In previous research, the St. Michael’s team analysed data from the St. Michael’s Hospital’s trauma registry, a database that is specific to injured patients who needed trauma team activations.

They found that the number of trauma cases related to e-bike injuries rose from 15 to 51 (an increase of 240 per cent) while e-scooter injuries rose from 4 to 28 (around 600 per cent) from 2020 to 2024. These patients tend to have head, facial and extremity injuries.

There are limitations to only using administrative data or retrospective registry data, said Dr. Michael Cusimano, neurosurgeon-scientist and Director of the Injury Prevention Research Office at St. Michael’s Hospital.

This new study will fill gaps in registry data by examining ED visits and collaborating with a community action committee to find out what leads to these injuries. This committee, coordinated by St. Michael’s, will include previously injured people, micromobility users, industry experts, and representatives from various community groups such as the Ministry of Transportation.

Although this research is focused on hospital interventions, it will also benefit city-wide initiatives, said Chandni Patel, Research Program Manager, Department of Emergency Medicine. This means informing municipal policies on micromobility safety, including helmet laws, speeds limits, and infrastructure improvements. The CAC and the Ministry of Transportation will work together to identify gaps in the research and at the city level.

“This is such a topical issue right now and it’s so important to collaborate forces because we’re a lot stronger working together than in our silos,” said Patel. “I hope that from this project, we continue to build really great connections with the community and within Toronto to advocate for our patients and for safer communities.”

By: Lois Lee

Related Tags