Chicago e-scooter riders face serious injuries, and no one's tracking how often they're hurt

Marie-Claire Ching has been hit by cars twice while riding her electric scooter in the city.

The accidents happened in the span of two weeks last October. In the first, Ching, who lives in Bridgeport and owns a Segway e-scooter, had been riding south on Halsted Street near Cermak Road when a southbound car reversed to allow a northbound car to turn ahead of it. The reversing car blocked her view, and the turning car struck her, knocking her off the scooter and into the street.

“Right after I was hit, I was actually shaking,” the 20-year-old said. “At that moment, it almost felt like everything went blank.”

Not even two weeks later, she was riding from her job at Block 37 in the Loop when a BMW ran a red light and struck her. All she could do before the impact was stare, she said.

The number of e-scooters on Chicago’s streets has steadily increased since the city introduced them in 2019. More than 3.7 million trips were recorded on rental e-scooters between mid-2022 and late 2023, according to city data, compared with 1.3 million rides between 2019 and 2020.

But the number of people injured in e-scooter crashes in Chicago remains unclear. The city doesn’t track the data, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation, and the companies that operate rental scooters don’t provide local data. E-scooter users like Ching and experts say more people are getting injured, and the city and companies should do more to address rider safety.

A steady uptick in scooter-related injuries

More riders means a higher risk for crashes, said Dr. David Trotter, chair of emergency medicine at Advocate Illinois Masonic in Lake View. Masonic is a Level 1 trauma center, meaning the hospital is a priority destination for emergencies.

Though the hospital doesn’t quantify what he calls “e-scooter traumas,” Trotter said there has been a steady uptick in injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to severe traumatic brain injuries in patients who didn’t wear helmets. That’s because many e-scooters can travel up to 15 to 20 mph. At those higher speeds, impacts are more damaging.

“To put that into perspective, that’s the speed that cars will go,” he said. “The human body is not really prepared for that type of contact.”

Fatal accidents are possible, too. In 2022, Rayshawn D. Thomas, 36, was struck and killed by a truck while he was riding a scooter in the Austin neighborhood.

According to a Consumer Product Safety Commission report from October 2023, emergency departments nationwide are seeing an increase in injuries from micromobility devices, including e-scooters, electric bikes and hoverboards. The 2022 figures showed a 21% spike from 2021, and the commission estimated injuries have jumped an average of 23% each year since 2017.

Lyft, which operates Divvy rental scooters, and Lime didn’t share local crash data with the Sun-Times. Spokespeople for both companies said safety is a priority, and the scooters are growing safer as the technology advances.

But Lime has faced multiple lawsuits over the years concerning the safety of its e-scooters. Last month, two Denver-area residents filed suits calling the scooters dangerous.

CDOT is working to improve e-scooter safety, said department spokesperson Erica Schroeder. Though the department doesn’t track crashes, it has worked with rental companies to require users to complete an in-app quiz before their first ride.

It has also been working to increase and improve bike lanes — which can be used by e-scooter riders — across the city, she said. Last year, CDOT installed more than 50 miles of bikeway projects, including 27 miles of new and upgraded protected lanes and 18 miles of new neighborhood greenways.

Christina Whitehouse, a safety advocate with the group Bike Lane Uprising, said the rise in people looking to get around on bikes and scooters underscores the importance of improving safety.

"There's this huge growing network of people who are wanting to get around outside of vehicles, and how do we make it safer?" she said.

With the city failing to track data, Whitehouse said the responsibility falls to individuals and organizations.

But law enforcement should also play a role, said Michael Keating, a personal injury lawyer who focuses on cases involving bike and scooter crashes. Citations for scooter crashes are rare, he said, and greater enforcement could help drivers and riders be more cautious when sharing the road.

“More and more what we’re seeing is that police officers, unless they immediately observe the infraction themselves, there’s an unwillingness to write a citation, even if there are witnesses, even if there is credible testimony by the victim of the crash.”

Ching said she called the police after her second accident, but officers never showed. Later, after landing in the emergency room with bumps and bruises, she went to a police station to file a report. She was met with reluctance throughout the process, she said.

In early June, Joseph Fattal, 35, was riding down North Avenue at top speed through traffic when an Uber passenger flung open the car's rear door. Fattal slammed into it and was knocked into a parked car on the side of the road.

“Honestly, I try to reflect back on it and think of the actual hit, and it’s such a blur,” he said.

Fattal, who lives in North Center and works as a contractor on TaskRabbit, did weeks of physical therapy to treat the plantar fasciitis he attributes partly to the fall he took after the crash. He’s had to cancel jobs as a result, making it harder to secure new ones.

All of this and his medical bills from the hospital visit total about $15,000.

Fattal said he reported the incident to Lime and received a refund for his ride: $1 at the time of the crash. The company didn’t wait until he knew the extent of his injuries to close the report, he said.

“They just didn’t respond whatsoever,” he said.

A Lime spokesperson said the company encouraged Fattal to reach out with questions and feedback.

"We do not close out incident-related tickets without first warning people and offering a chance to reengage," a Lime spokesperson told the Sun-Times in an email.

"Being doored is unfortunately something all two-wheeled travelers know is a risk that is best solved with bike infrastructure," the spokesperson continued. "We'll keep working with our riders and with CDOT to identify areas where bike infrastructure can continue supporting Chicago's sustainable transit boom as safely as possible."

Ching and Fattal both sought legal advice from Keating’s firm after their crashes.

Ching’s case for the second crash was resolved, with the driver’s insurance paying for her hospital bills and her pain and suffering. Lawyers are working with the Uber driver’s and passenger’s insurance companies to resolve Fattal’s case, Keating said. He said he is prepared to file a lawsuit if the companies don’t cooperate.

Ching and Fattal said they now think twice before riding, often opting for trails instead of major streets. Ching said she at first thought that a scooter would be a good way of getting around while juggling classes and caring for her grandmother. Now, she’s not so sure.

For Fattal, the effects of his crash extend far beyond his physical injuries.

“My mental health, my physical health, my relationships, my work — everything changed,” he said.