E-scooters are new to Lexington, and the city is pleased to see them hoping they will advance their long-term plan of pushing green energy and alternatives to traditional four-wheeled transportation. However, there’s an old problem that threatens to dampen the excitement of the e-scooters. Impaired driving has been around since driving began, and mixing drunk drivers and scooters is a recipe for injuries and even death.
Black Eye for New Scooter Program
Lime scooters recently came to Lexington, and in less than a week, a man was injured in a scooter accident by an alleged DUI driver. On Tuesday, October 22, 2019, Lime dropped 360 electric scooters around Lexington beginning a city-sanctioned ride-share program aimed at getting people out of their cars and onto other forms of transportation.
E-Scooter Rider Hit by Car
On Saturday, October 25, 2019, around 2:30 a.m. motorist hit a man riding one of the new Lime e—scooters as he was riding South Limestone near Washington Avenue when a car hit him from behind. Police say that the man then hit the windshield of the car and fell to the pavement. An ambulance transported him to a local hospital with serious injuries.
The driver of the car was arrested on charges of driving while impaired. Police are still investigating the incident, and further charges are possible.
DUI and E-Scooters
Since e-scooters came on the scene in 2018, there have been roughly 11 verifiable deaths of scooter riders with over 38 million trips in cities across the country. Trauma centers have reported an increase in scooter rider injuries with over half being serious head injuries including traumatic brain injuries.
The problem is a scooter rider—which has a significantly lower profile—is vastly unprotected against a 4,000 lb. motor vehicle, and only a small percentage of the riders wear helmets.
Adding to these risks on Lexington’s streets are the number of impaired drives on any given day. Lexington, like every medium to large city in the U.S., has a significant problem with impaired drivers. Spotting the small and less visible scooter riders is much more difficult at night and even more so when the driver is drunk or impaired.
Lexington DUI Scooter Injuries
Though there are no hard numbers of e-scooter accidents, local officials in a couple of cities in the U.S. looked at the number and type of injuries over a three-month period of time and found that there were around 225 injuries in each city with 40% being head injuries and only 2 percent wearing a helmet. Trauma centers have also reported a significant amount of injuries such as broken arms/legs, shattered elbows and knees and fractured wrists and ribs.
Hopefully in Lexington, this trend won’t continue with the new scooter program, but if the old problem of impaired driving isn’t addressed, then it’s likely that it will.
Contact a Lexington Personal Injury Attorney
To find out more about your legal rights and options, consult a qualified and experienced Lexington Personal Injury Lawyer. With over 100 years of combined experience, the legal team at the office of Kaufman & Stigger, PLLC has been faithfully representing Kentucky and Indiana injury victims, winning their clients substantial settlements and verdicts.
