E-scooter injuries surge 47% in Edmonton as risky riding habits fuel hospital visits

E-scooter injuries in Edmonton have surged sharply, with 1,198 people admitted to emergency departments or urgent care centres in the most recent fiscal year ending February 28, 2026—up from 813 the year before. Many injuries are severe, and preventable safety lapses make them worse.

Dr. Erin Bristow, an emergency department physician at the University of Alberta Hospital, treats dozens of injured riders each year with fractures, head injuries, and far worse. She co-authored a 2025 study in the Canadian Journal of Surgery examining 759 Edmontonians who suffered e-scooter injuries in the three years following the devices' 2019 introduction. The study found 62 per cent had more than one injury; fractures accounted for 32 per cent and head injuries for 17 per cent.

Alberta-wide, e-scooter injuries increased 33 per cent over the same period, from 2,282 to 3,049. Children were hit hard: 136 were admitted to Stollery Children's Hospital compared to 61 in 2024-25.

The victims tend to be young—median age 28, roughly even male-female split—but the toll on the health system is significant. Twenty per cent arrived by ambulance, a strain on already-stretched resources. Thirty per cent required follow-up care; nine per cent needed surgery within a month.

Bristow attributes the Edmonton spike partly to a rise in privately owned e-scooters, which have higher top speeds than public rental options. Safety behaviours are alarming: in her study sample, just 2 per cent of injured riders wore head protection, while more than a quarter were impaired.

Bristow is not anti-scooter. She advocates for broader public understanding of how serious injuries can be—which, she hopes, will reduce risky behaviour like riding without helmets or after drinking or using drugs. "It's not that I think we cannot use scooters," she said. "I think that it's just that we need to understand the risks."