Scooter riders encouraged to cushion head with their arms
Scooter riders often fail to take any injury preventative measures in the event of accidents, which may result in significant head trauma or brain injury.
Chinese researchers who reconstructed electric, self-balancing scooter (ESSs) crash scenarios estimate that approximately half of scooter riders who crash have a roughly 50/50 chance of a skull fracture – a risk that can be reduced if they better protected themselves beforehand.
Accidents involving scooters are on the rise all around the world due to their increasing popularity. A group of researchers from Changsha University of Science and Technology and Xiamen University of Technology reconstructed multiple scooter accident scenarios using “fail” videos on social media sites and applied computational methods.
The result was the generation of virtual scooter riders crashing under such scenarios as running into a stop sign, a car or a person, which led to the scooter rider being tossed from the scooter onto the ground—and in many cases, suffering a head injury.
The researchers were able to manipulate the actions of the scooter rider in simulations to learn more about the repercussions of actions taken before and during an accident. They found that the rider’s failure to take preventative action most assuredly led to worse injuries than expected.
One suggestion was for the rider to raise the arms to cover the head while in the air; this would protect the head and brain from inevitable fall, particularly if the rider was not wearing a helmet.
The researchers also found that the type of ESS did not make much of a difference in head injury risks—single and two-wheeled scooters were equally dangerous. They conclude that head injuries could be significantly reduced by riders if they used their limbs to cushion blows to the head as accidents unfold.
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