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Data released by the Oregon Health Authority this week suggests that Oregonians are getting hurt on electric scooters more every year.
In recent years, according to the Oregon Health Authority, an “e-scooter-specific code” was developed for health care tracking purposes.
From 2021 to 2024, injury reports under this code from Oregon hospitals and emergency departments jumped from 211 to 418.
And in just the first nine months of 2025, there had been 509 such reports.
“These injuries are not minor scrapes,” said Dagan Wright, an OHA epidemiologist, in a written statement. “They often involve head injuries, broken bones and other serious trauma that requires emergency or inpatient care.”
Portland inked contracts with three e-scooter rental companies in 2018, as the transportation craze spread across the country. But e-scooter injury diagnosis codes are relatively new in health care reporting, Wright said in the OHA statement.
“While the overall numbers remain smaller than for other transportation-related injuries, the rapid increase over a short period of time is a clear safety signal,” the OHA added.
The OHA highlighted the story of Portland e-scooter commuter Daniel Pflieger, who it says was riding a scooter home when he reportedly slid on ice. He bruised several ribs.
Sometimes outcomes are worse. The OHA identified 17 deaths linked to e-scooter or motorized scooter since 2018, and seven of those occurred in 2025.
The OHA says that e-bikes raise many similar safety concerns as e-scooters. The first full year for which e-bike injuries were coded for reporting was 2023. State data shows 392 reported e-bike injuries that year, 683 in 2024 and 760 in the first 9 months of 2025.
“Injuries involving e-bikes and e-scooters share common risk factors—speed, lack of helmet use, roadway design and interactions with motor vehicles,” Wright said.
