Toronto City Committee wants e-scooters barred from sidewalks

加拿大的共享电动滑板还没启动,多伦多市政厅已经开始讨论不允许这些滑板车停在人行道上了。Barring e-scooters from city sidewalks,recom mendedb yacitycom mitteeon M onday, wouldmake it impossib le to introduce the concept to Toronto,according to the CEO of Bird Canada, an e-scooter company hoping to launch here in the spring of2 0 2 0.

Emergency department electric scooter injuries after the introduction of shared e-scooter services: A retrospective review of 3,331 cases

BACKGROUND: To determine the frequency, characteristics, and use of resources related to electric scooter(e-scooter) injuries in the emergency department(ED) of a major metropolitan area hospital.METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of all ED presentations related to e-scooter injuries at a level I trauma center between May 2017 and February 2020. We identified ED presentation data, injury-related data, patients’ clinical course after evaluation, injury diagnosis, surgical procedures, and ED readmissions.RESULTS: A total of 3,331 patients with e-scooter injuries presented to the ED over a 34-month period. There was a 6-fold increase in e-scooter-related injuries presenting to the ED, from an average of 26.9 injuries per month before the introduction of shared e-scooter services in August 2018 to an average of 152.6 injuries per month after its introduction. The average injury rate during weekdays was 3.27 per day, with the majority of injuries occurring in the afternoon. The most common mechanism of injury was rider fall(79.1%). There were a total of 2,637 orthopedic injuries, of which 599(22.7%) were fractures. A total of 296(8.9%) patients were hospitalized following the initial ED admission, and 462 surgeries were performed within 7 days of ED arrival.CONCLUSIONS: The introduction of the shared e-scooter services is associated with a dramatic increase in e-scooter injuries presenting to the ED. E-scooter use carries considerably underestimated injury risks of high-energy trauma and misunderstood mechanisms of injuries. These injuries challenge the healthcare system, with a major impact on both EDs and surgical departments.

Are shared electric scooters energy efficient?

Shared electric scooters(e-scooter)are booming across the world and widely regarded as a sustainable mobility service.An increasing number of studies have investigated the e-scooter trip patterns,safety risks,and environmental impacts,but few considered the energy efficiency of e-scooters.In this research,we collected the operational data of e-scooters from a major provider in Gothenburg to shed light on the energy efficiency performance of e-scooters in real cases.We first develop a multiple logarithmic regression model to examine the energy consumption of single trips and influencing factors.With the regression model,a Monte Carlo simulation framework is proposed to estimate the fleet energy consumption in various scenarios,taking into account both trip-related energy usage and energy loss in idle status.The results indicate that 40%of e-scooter battery energy was wasted in idle status in the current practice,mainly due to the relatively low usage rate(0.83)of e-scooters.If the average usage rate drops below 0.5,the wasted energy could reach up to 53%.In the end,we present a field example to showcase how to optimally integrate public transport with e-scooters from the perspective of energy efficiency.We hope the findings of this study could help understand and resolve the current and future challenges regarding the ever-growing e-scooter services.