Electric scooters are popular – many city dwellers use the little speedsters intensively, especially for short distances. Now the statistics show a dark side of the trend.
Munich (dpa/lby) – There has been a massive increase in accidents involving e-scooters in Bavaria this year. By the end of October, the police had registered 1,097 accidents involving the small electric vehicles. In the same period last year there were just 762, as the Ministry of the Interior announced at the request of the German Press Agency. The number of people injured also rose from 663 to 1040. In addition, two people were killed in Bavaria in accidents with e-scooters by the deadline this year.
The officers found that 161 of the e-scooter drivers involved in the accidents were under the influence of alcohol. This is also a significant increase, as there were only 109 in the same period last year. To date, five drivers have been under the influence of drugs this year (same period last year: six).
In addition, by the reporting date, the police had recorded exactly 2,029 traffic offenses that were committed with e-scooters (previous year: 1,589). “In 2022, around 70 percent of traffic offenses in the above-mentioned period were related to alcohol and around 21 percent to other intoxicating substances,” the ministry said. In the previous year it was still 58 and 29 percent.
