Content note:
- This report cannot provide precise counts of injuries involving e-scooters or e-bikes. Current hospital data place these devices within broader transport categories.
- The findings should therefore be interpreted as trends in transport groups that include e-scooters and e-bikes, rather than as exact counts for those devices.
The rate of hospitalisations due to falls from a category of vehicles that includes e-scooters more than tripled between 2019-20 and 2024-25, according to a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
E-scooter and e-bike injuries and deaths in Australia: national trends and data limitations, examines hospitalisations across separate transport groups that include e-scooters and e-bikes between 2009-10 and 2024-25.
‘E-scooters and e-bikes are becoming a more familiar part of everyday transport in Australia, with shared-access schemes in place in several states and territories,’ AIHW spokesperson Jacqueline Rek said.
‘As use and availability appear to have grown, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the associated safety risks.’
To date, there has been little data on injuries related to e-scooters and e-bikes. While today’s report seeks to fill some of the gaps, there are still limitations.
‘Current national hospital data cannot specifically identify e-scooters and e-bikes from other related forms of transport, meaning these findings should not be interpreted as precise counts of injuries involving e-scooters or e-bikes alone,’ Ms Rek said.
Hospitalisations linked to e-scooters have risen sharply
In 2024-25, there were 4,089 hospitalisations for falls involving the transport group that includes e-scooters, more than 3 times the 1,291 recorded in 2019-20. Over the same period, the population-wide hospitalisation rate increased from 5 to 15 per 100,000 population.
In contrast, the rate of hospitalisation due to falls from non-powered scooters declined from 7 per 100,000 population in 2019-20 to 5 per 100,000 in 2024-25.
‘As injury hospitalisations from non-powered scooters have declined, hospitalisations involving the transport group that includes e-scooters have increased sharply,’ Ms Rek said.
‘While the data cannot tell us exactly how much of this change is due to increased use, it is consistent with the growing popularity of e-scooters in Australia over recent years.’
The report also found increasing hospitalisation rates among drivers and riders of the transport group that includes e-bikes. Because e-bikes are part of an even broader group of vehicles this category, they are even more difficult to distinguish in the data, and these trends are less specific.
Most injuries linked to e-scooters involve younger males
In 2024-25, males accounted for around two-thirds of hospitalisations for falls involving the transport group that includes e-scooters, and the largest increase was among boys aged 12-15.
Their age-and sex-specific hospitalisation rate rose from 3.6 to 54 per 100,000 population between 2019-20 and 2024-25. In 2024-25, boys aged 12-15 were more than 4 times as likely as girls of the same age to be hospitalised for falls in this transport group.
Almost 3 in 5 hospitalisations involved fractures
Fractures were the most common injury among people hospitalised following falls involving the transport group that includes e-scooters. The proportion of hospitalisations involving fractures increased from 46% in 2015-16 to 58% in 2024-25.
Although the number of hospitalisations involving severe outcomes increased, the AIHW found no clear evidence that hospitalised cases were becoming more severe overall.
Injuries among pedestrians are also a concern
While most hospitalisations involved people riding or driving these vehicles, the report also identified injuries among pedestrians.
In 2024-25, there were 164 hospitalisations involving pedestrians injured in collisions with the transport group that includes e-scooters. A further 147 involving pedestrians were injured in collisions with the transport group that includes e-bikes, though these data cannot identify how many involved e-bikes specifically.
‘While pedestrian injuries are less common, they are appearing in hospital data and warrant ongoing monitoring as e-scooters and e-bikes become more common in Australian communities,’ Ms Rek said.
More data is needed to better understand this issue
New national codes introduced on 1 July 2026 will allow future hospital data to distinguish e-scooters, e-bikes and other e-mobility devices more clearly. They do not apply retrospectively to the data analysed in this report.
‘This report provides the first national view on this topic, while also highlighting where more data is needed,’ Ms Rek said.
‘The new codes will help distinguish injuries involving e-scooters, e-bikes and other devices, building a clearer evidence base to understand emerging risks and inform injury prevention.’
