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CDC, city of Austin partner to study spike in e-scooter related accidents, injuries

AUSTIN — E-scooters are popping up in cities all over the country including Charlotte, but they are bringing with them a spike in accidents.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they want more information about what is going on.

Right now, there is now current national database tracking scooter accidents.

The City of Austin, Texas and the CDC partnered to study scooter accidents.

Officials said they are finding some surprising trends including some scooter accidents did not involve another vehicle.

"It's people riding it who may have a collision with the curb or a post or a parked car, and they may hit a pothole," Epidemiologist Jeff Taylor from Austin Public Health said.

The City of Austin is planning to use the information from the new study to make new regulations.

"Very few of the riders that we see and the riders that were injured as a part of our study are wearing a helmet," Taylor said.

The E-scooter company Lime said it's doing "All that we can to work with cities, education, and technology to address these accidents and it's encouraging the medical community as well."

Another company Bird said "We're encouraged that the CDC is examining the growing impact of e-scooters on mobility within cities."

In Charlotte, scooter riders are banned from some uptown sidewalks including College, Stonewall, Seventh, and Church streets.

Earlier this month, the city painted markings indicating the sidewalks are for pedestrians only.

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