Between 2019 and 2023, 400 e-scooter riders were seriously injured and seven lost their lives in Switzerland.
Keystone-SDA
Accidents involving electric scooters often result in injuries to the head, face or upper body, the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention BFU has warned. Riders frequently go without helmets and alcohol is the most frequent cause of accidents.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Between 2019 and 2023, 400 e-scooter riders were seriously injured and seven lost their lives, the BFU said on Tuesday. Three-quarters of accidents involved individuals.
Collisions were most often due to failure to give way. In almost half of these cases, the e-scooter rider did not respect Swiss right-of-way rules.
More than three-quarters (77%) of the victims of serious accidents were men. E-scooters are mainly used by young people and men, according to the BFU.
More
More
Around half of cyclists wear a helmet in Switzerland
Alcohol and speed
The road safety organisation urges riders of e-scooters to refrain from consuming alcohol before using them. Even a small amount of alcohol is enough to impair driving ability, it says.
According to a BFU study, alcohol consumption is the cause of 39% of personal accidents. This is followed by “inattention and distraction” (20%) and “speed” (9%).
The higher the speed of the scooter, the greater the risk of falling and the more serious the injuries are likely to be, adds the BFU. The e-scooters approved for use on Swiss roads can reach speeds of up to 20 km/h.
+ Why are there so many traffic accidents these days?
The BFU also points out that e-scooters are subject to the same rules as slow-moving electric bicycles, i.e. lights must be switched on even during the day, cycle paths and lanes must be used and pavements may only be used if this is also permitted for bicycles.
Translated from German by DeepL/sb
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. An editor then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out this short survey to help us understand your needs: https://survey.survicate.com/d0df481d0b13412d/?p=anonymousExternal link
