Electric scooters, or e-scooters, are everywhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re in downtown Toronto, the suburban streets of Richmond Hill, or on the boardwalk in Oakville; people of all ages are using scooters to get around. Promises of convenience, eco-friendliness, and affordability have become especially popular among urban commuters looking to shave a few minutes off their trip or just avoid the TTC on a rainy day.
But with that speed and accessibility comes an important question that city officials, medical professionals, and personal injury lawyers across Toronto are all asking: how dangerous are electric scooters? And equally important, what happens when something goes wrong?
Imagine you’ve seen someone fly down Queen Street on an e-scooter without a helmet, weaving between cars, or speeding through a pedestrian sidewalk. In that case, your gut probably tells you accidents are common. As it turns out, the data backs that up; e-scooters pose serious injury risks, especially in cities like Toronto that are still trying to figure out how they fit into the transportation ecosystem.
The Rise of the E-Scooter in Canada
Although electric scooters have been popular in cities like Los Angeles and Paris for years, Canada has only recently started warming up to them. Toronto, though, has taken a cautious approach. Back in 2020, the City of Toronto voted not to allow micromobility e-scooter sharing services like Bird and Lime on public roads due to concerns about safety, accessibility, and the lack of infrastructure.
But that hasn’t stopped private scooter ownership. Thousands of Torontonians now own their own e-scooters, and enforcement around their use on sidewalks, bike lanes, and roads has been inconsistent. While e-scooters remain banned from public streets and bike lanes in Toronto, they’re frequently used, particularly in neighborhoods like Liberty Village, the downtown core, suburban neighbourhoods and along the waterfront trail.
Meanwhile, other cities in Ontario, such as Ottawa and Windsor, have launched pilot programs to test shared scooter services. Ottawa’s trial, in partnership with companies like Bird and Neuron, recorded over 1.4 million trips in 2023 alone, according to the city’s Transportation Services Department. Given those numbers, it’s no wonder injuries have followed.
E-Scooter Partnerships in Toronto
Shared E-Scooter Programs:
- Brampton: The city’s shared e-scooter pilot program, in partnership with companies like Neuron, Bird Canada, and Scooty Mobility, deployed an average of 705 e-scooters daily during the 2024 season.
- Mississauga: In 2024, Mississauga partnered with Lime Technology Inc. and Bird Canada to make about 900 e-scooters available for public use.
- Markham: A pilot program launched in 2024 deployed approximately 100 e-scooters in the downtown area.
What the Numbers Say About E-Scooter Injuries
While comprehensive Canadian-wide data is still catching up, what we do know is eye-opening.
A 2022 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) examined injury rates from e-scooters across Alberta. It found that the rate of emergency room visits for e-scooter injuries was 115 per 100,000 trips – a number significantly higher than that of bicycles. Of the injuries recorded, nearly 90% were due to falls, and about 20% involved head trauma. Alarmingly, only 6% of injured riders had been wearing a helmet.
In Toronto, while there’s no citywide e-scooter pilot yet, SickKids reported a noticeable uptick in ER visits linked to scooter injuries. In 2021 alone, more than 180 e-scooter-related injuries were recorded in the downtown core. Many of these involved fractures, concussions, or collisions with cars or pedestrians.
In the U.S., where scooter use is more widespread, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that roughly 20 injuries occur for every 100,000 scooter trips, with the vast majority being preventable. That rate is likely mirrored or even exceeded in dense cities like Toronto, where infrastructure hasn’t been built to support this mode of transportation and where most scooter users don’t wear proper protective gear.
Why E-Scooters Are So Risky
The appeal of e-scooters is clear—they’re quick, compact, and emissions-free. But their dangers come from a combination of factors.
First, they’re often used in spaces that weren’t designed for them. With e-scooters banned on roads and bike lanes but still used daily in Toronto, riders are caught in a legal grey zone. They’re navigating around pedestrians, dodging streetcar tracks, and trying not to get sideswiped by cars. It’s chaos, creating a dangerous situation for the scooter driver, pedestrians, and for cars and motorcycles.
Second, e-scooters are fast. Most can reach speeds of 20 to 30 km/h, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider that the rider is likely not wearing protective gear and may be sharing space with pedestrians or vehicles. Additionally, other e-scooters can reach top speeds of 50 km/h and above. It’s akin to riding a bicycle without as much stability and without the visibility that a cyclist usually gets.
Third, many riders are inexperienced. Unlike bikes or cars, e-scooters don’t require any sort of training or license. That means people hop on them with zero experience navigating traffic or balancing at speed. It’s a recipe for disaster, especially when alcohol or distracted riding gets thrown into the mix.
Who Gets Hurt—and Who’s Liable?
The most common e-scooter injuries we see at Bergel Magence involve fractures, sprains, dental injuries, and head trauma. But e-scooter accidents don’t just affect the riders. Pedestrians, especially seniors or those with mobility issues, have also been injured by reckless or careless scooter use.
In terms of liability, things get tricky. Because e-scooters are not currently legal on Toronto’s public roads and sidewalks, insurance coverage for riders is limited. Most riders don’t realize that their scooter is not covered under standard auto insurance, nor is it covered by most homeowners’ or renters’ insurance policies when used on public property.
If you’re hit by a car while riding an e-scooter in a city where scooter use is prohibited, you may be deemed partially or fully liable, depending on the circumstances. That can seriously impact your ability to claim damages, even if you were the one injured.
Conversely, if a negligent driver hits a scooter rider who obeyed the rules, there may still be grounds for a claim. Every case is different, and the lack of regulation around e-scooters in Ontario only adds layers of complexity to an already murky area of law.