E-scooters are a handy, enjoyable various to driving a automobile.
Two Interior communities – Kelowna and Vernon – are presently collaborating in a three-year provincial pilot mission, permitting residents and guests to make use of electrical kick scooters (e-scooters) below comparable guidelines as bikes and e-bikes. In addition, many people throughout the area have entry to their very own e-scooter.
As this newer type of transportation is sharing the highway with different modes, Interior Health is dedicated to working with all companions to make sure damage prevention stays a high precedence. Evidence from 2021 suggests a rise within the variety of scooter-related accidents as in comparison with the earlier 5 years. The most affected age teams have been younger people between the ages of 20 and 40, and the most typical forms of accidents have been fracture of the higher extremities and open wounds to the top and neck. More than 90 per cent of people injured didn’t put on a helmet on the time of damage.
“Road safety is everyone’s business,” mentioned Dr. Silvina Mema, medical well being officer, Interior Health. “It’s important that everyone plays their part to prevent transportation-related injuries and associated impacts experienced in our communities. There are significant health-care costs as well and personal impacts for people who experience serious injuries.”
Interior Health is reminding anybody who makes use of a privately owned or shared e-scooter to maintain security high of thoughts and observe the e-scooter supplier specs. Here are plenty of steps you’ll be able to take to journey safely and cut back the chance of damage to your self or others:
- Wear a helmet
- Don’t carry passengers (e.g., doubling)
- Never journey below the affect of medication or alcohol
- If you’re a much less skilled rider, begin sluggish and in areas of low visitors
- Ride at a secure velocity and in designated areas equivalent to protected lanes and quiet streets
- Remember you have to be 16 or older to journey an e-scooter in B.C. (Kelowna-based operators presently require you to be 18 or older)
- Know the principles – familiarize your self with the place you’ll be able to and can’t journey
- Ensure your e-scooter is provided with a braking system and added security options, together with a bell, lights and reflectors
These ideas additionally apply to different forms of energetic journey, equivalent to biking, skateboarding, non-electric scooters and curler skating/blading.
Interior Health helps various modes of transportation and can proceed to associate with communities to watch health-related impacts.
Information on the shared e-scooter packages working inside Interior Health, together with their secure use and designated areas for driving, can be found on the City of Kelowna, City of Vernon and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s web sites.