Doctors warn of 'exponential' rise in e-scooter and scrambler bike injuries in Ireland

Injuries related to e-scooters and scrambler motorbikes in Ireland are rising at an "exponential rate" and "stretching" an already overstretched system, experts have warned.

At some hospitals, the number of such injuries has quadrupled over the past year, experts told a group of Irish TDs and senators on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, cases have doubled at the Mater, Ireland's designated national major trauma centre in Dublin, Dr Shane Broderick told the Oireachtas justice committee.

"Significant limb injuries", many requiring operations, were the most common problem, according to Dr Luke Phillips, who said the rise was "placing an ever-increasing burden on our emergency department and inpatient units".

"Worryingly, 8% of our patients were pedestrians struck by someone else's scooter," he added.

Youngsters were especially vulnerable, Dr Phillips said, with "over a third of traumatic brain injury admissions in children being e-scooter-related".

The age limit for using e-scooters rises from 16 to 18 later this month, a measure welcomed by the consultants.

Dr Broderick said: "If a parent is buying an e-scooter for a child, it's illegal. You shouldn't be doing it, and there should be consequences potentially, should they purchase an e-scooter for children that are underage."

The pair also raised concerns about scrambler motorbikes, with Dr Broderick saying injury numbers are "higher this year than last year".

He said scrambler victims "tend to be more severely injured" due to higher speeds and victims "tend to spend longer in hospital".

He continued: "In Children's Health Ireland, their numbers have doubled.

"So, we're already stretched. We're already busy from a trauma point of view, and there's no doubt that these numbers are rising at an exponential rate for us, and it's stretching an already-overstretched system."

Dr Phillips said: "A major trauma coming into our department will take up a lot of resources, so that's an hour or two of a big team's work that aren't seeing patients waiting to be seen.

"If, say, a person came off their bike with major injuries, that's a team of about three or four doctors.

"And at night-time, that's our whole emergency department, and then it takes about three or four nurses plus radiology, the inpatient teams, and some of them need to go into emergency theatre.

"Then that probably cancels out like theatre for the next day sometimes."

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Sinn Fein TD Mark Ward said e-scooters and scramblers have been terrorising and intimidating communities for about 10 years and were being used to transport drugs and frighten people.

A total of 65 e-bikes and e-scooters were seized by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in a crackdown on illegal use across Belfast over the weekend.

The youngest rider was six years old.

(c) Sky News 2026: Doctors warn of 'exponential' rise in e-scooter and scrambler bike injuries in Ireland