The Antwerp hospital umbrella ‘Hospitaal aan de Stroom’ (ZAS) receives an emergency patient every eight hours due to an accident involving an e-scooter. In half of the cases, this led to an inability to work.
Emergency doctors as well as the clinic and the Flemish Foundation for Traffic Studies (VSV) are asking the government to take measures such as a helmet requirement, a minimum standard for braking capacity, and a maximum acceleration speed for e-scooters up to 250 watts, like that of an e-bike (now it is usually between 250 and 350 watts).
1,053 patients per year
Over the past year and a half, ZAS’ emergency departments have cared for 1,850 patients following e-scooter accidents. That works out to 1,053 per year, or one patient every eight hours. In nine out of ten cases, the e-scooter driver reported himself to the emergency department. In the remaining cases, a third party was the victim: a hit bicyclist or pedestrian.
Moreover, the police are involved in only a fraction of the total number of accidents, indicating that the number of e-scooter incidents is significantly higher.
According to the Traffic Safety Institute Vias, the police in Flanders recorded approximately 850 accidents involving e-scooters in 2023. In 2024, there were 937 across Flanders. The Antwerp emergency departments alone will thus have to deal with more cases.
Mostly men are involved
Analysis of medical records from the five ZAS emergency departments from July 2022 to January 2024 also revealed that falls were the cause of various injuries in 80% of cases. In only 20% of the cases is it a collision that causes an injury. Most accidents also occur in inner cities, rather than in the suburbs.
Even more striking is that mainly men are involved. They account for 62% of cases, compared to 38% for women. The 25 to 34 age group accounts for just over a third of the filings. Young people aged 15 to 24 also account for approximately one-third. Despite the minimum age of 16 to use an e-scooter, ZAS also sees 14- and 15-year-olds coming in for care after an accident.
Tighten legislation
Due to these high accident rates, ZAS emergency physicians are urging the government to tighten legislation for e-scooters. For example, they request that the e-scooter’s power be limited to that of an e-bike, a reduction in the speed limit to 20 kph (down from 25 kph currently), and the requirement to wear a helmet.
Doctors also note that half of all victims are incapacitated after the accident, indicating a “large social and economic cost.” Eight percent had to be hospitalized for observation or surgery the day of the accident or later.
Strongest increase
Although the same can be said of the other injury accidents on Flemish roads, emergency physicians, for example, are not advocating the introduction of slower speeds in the streets, which would otherwise make sense if you look at the number of injury accidents, because slower driving generally reduces the likelihood of traffic incidents.
According to the Vias traffic barometer, 22,014 injury accidents took place across Flanders in 2024, representing 307 accidents per day. Figures on the 2023-2024 evolution also show a general decrease in the number of injury accidents in Flanders (-3,1%). However, the number of injury accidents involving e-scooter users has increased the most, by 13.3%.
Most injury accidents are still among car occupants (25,943), followed by cyclists (10,267), pedestrians (4,186), moped riders (4,193), light truck (3,385), motorcycle riders (2,497), and e-scooter users (1,815).
The Minister is not in favor of mandatory helmets
Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA) acknowledges the problem, but is not in favor of making the helmet mandatory for e-scooter users. “If we want to entice more people to use alternative means of transportation, such as the bicycle or the e-scooter, we should not start imposing things,” De Ridder said. “That would lead to a reverse modal shift.”
De Ridder does call for more awareness around the dangers of e-scooters in traffic. Enforcement is also necessary, according to the Minister, although that would have to be done in consultation with the federal level.
According to traffic experts, the city is also often under-equipped to handle e-scooters and other new modes of transportation, and the infrastructure often leaves much to be desired. This does not alter the fact that many e-scooter users are inexperienced and underestimate the dangers.
