E-scooter injury data is uncollectable, blocking safety improvements

When an e-scooter rider crashes, the injury is recorded at the ER as 'fall' or 'vehicle accident' with no standardized code distinguishing e-scooter from skateboard, bicycle, or pedestrian fall. So what? Epidemiologists cannot measure the true injury rate, severity distribution, or most common injury mechanisms for e-scooters specifically. So what? Without accurate data, cities cannot identify which intersections, road types, or infrastructure gaps cause the most scooter injuries. So what? Infrastructure spending is allocated based on car crash data and bicycle crash data, leaving scooter-specific hazards (small wheel + pothole, railroad track crossings, wet painted road markings) completely unaddressed. So what? The same preventable injuries repeat year after year at the same locations. This persists because ICD-10 medical codes — the global standard for classifying injuries — only added codes for 'powered scooter' (V00.15) in 2020, and hospital systems take 3-5 years to adopt new codes. Even then, ER staff under time pressure default to generic codes.