Swiss road safety group warns of e-scooter dangers
Between 2019 and 2023, 400 e-scooter riders were seriously injured and seven lost their lives in Switzerland.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss road safety group warns of e-scooter dangers
Accidents involving electric scooters often result in injuries to the head, face or upper body, the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention BFU has warned. Riders frequently go without helmets and alcohol is the most frequent cause of accidents.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Français
fr
E-trottinettes: nombreuses blessures à la tête dans des accidents
Original
Between 2019 and 2023, 400 e-scooter riders were seriously injured and seven lost their lives, the BFU said on Tuesday. Three-quarters of accidents involved individuals.
Collisions were most often due to failure to give way. In almost half of these cases, the e-scooter rider did not respect Swiss right-of-way rules.
More than three-quarters (77%) of the victims of serious accidents were men. E-scooters are mainly used by young people and men, according to the BFU.
More
More
Around half of cyclists wear a helmet in Switzerland
This content was published on
Some 52% of people in Switzerland wear a helmet when riding bicycles, electric bikes and scooters or electric scooters.
The road safety organisation urges riders of e-scooters to refrain from consuming alcohol before using them. Even a small amount of alcohol is enough to impair driving ability, it says.
According to a BFU study, alcohol consumption is the cause of 39% of personal accidents. This is followed by “inattention and distraction” (20%) and “speed” (9%).
The higher the speed of the scooter, the greater the risk of falling and the more serious the injuries are likely to be, adds the BFU. The e-scooters approved for use on Swiss roads can reach speeds of up to 20 km/h.
The BFU also points out that e-scooters are subject to the same rules as slow-moving electric bicycles, i.e. lights must be switched on even during the day, cycle paths and lanes must be used and pavements may only be used if this is also permitted for bicycles.
Translated from German by DeepL/sb
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. An editor then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Swiss appeal to US Treasury Secretary for better cooperation
This content was published on
Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter met her US counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in Washington on Thursday.
This content was published on
After reaching a low point at the end of 2024, the Swiss job market showed the first signs of a slight recovery in the first quarter.
This content was published on
Switzerland's dioceses are making arrangements for the faithful to attend the Pope's funeral, including public screenings.
Vulnerable tenants hit hardest by Zurich evictions
This content was published on
More tenants are evicted in Zurich than anywhere else in Switzerland, which particularly affects older people on low incomes.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.