Woman Hurt In S. Austin Crash Was On Scooter After All (Updated)

AUSTIN, TX — After correcting an earlier tweet saying a woman critically injured was on a moped rather than a scooter, Austin-Travis County EMS now says the woman was on a scooter after all.

Via Twitter, medics originally reported a woman in her 50s was hurt after falling from a scooter and hitting her head on a curb, resulting in life-threatening injuries. Later, they corrected the tweet to say the woman actually was on a moped.

But when Patch reached out for clarification on Monday, officials reversed course yet again: "Upon receipt of better information and further verification by ATCEMS, we will be standing by our original tweet," officials wrote to Patch at around 3 p.m. Monday in response to a query. "Per our medics on-scene, it was a stand-up scooter."

The incident along the 1100 block of South Congress Avenue left the victim with life-threatening injuries.

The incident raises concerns over the prevalence of scooters now ubiquitous throughout the city as a result of the entry of a handful of companies offering the dock-less electric vehicles. According to RideTwoWheels, scooters are capable of reaching up to 30 miles per hour on a full battery charge.

Following the entry of the app-driven scooter companies in Austin, an increasing number of mostly young people can be seen riding the devices sans helmets.

A spokeswoman for Lime, one of the scooter companies operating in Austin, provided Patch with a prepared statement related to safety measures when using the vehicles:

"Rider safety is our number one priority, which is why we urge riders to practice safe riding using helmets both in notices on the app and on the actual scooter," Mary Caroline Pruitt said. "In order to unlock a Lime scooter for the first time, all riders must go through an in-app tutorial that includes helmet safety. We’re constantly developing and implementing tools in the app to further promote safe riding and scooter use, and will continue to keep the safety of the community our top priority."

The vehicle the injured woman was riding on before falling was later determined to have been a Lime scooter.

From earlier:

AUSTIN, TX — A woman believed to be riding one of those now ubiquitous scooters secured via an app was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries following a road accident Sunday evening.

Austin-Travis County EMS medics alerted to the service call just before 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. The incident long the 1100 block of South Congress Avenue left the victim, a woman in her 50s, in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

The woman's injuries reportedly were caused after she hit her head after running into a curb while riding the scooter. Patch will update as more information becomes available.

Scooters that require no docking are ubiquitous in Austin, with a handful of providers capitalizing on the trend in Austin. But you rarely, if ever, see users wearing helmets despite the faster speeds achieved than if traveling on foot.

Throughout the city, scooters can now be seen left along sidewalks or roadsides after their use where others are able to locate them via apps to take their own rides on the two-wheeled contraptions. Anyone is able to ride the scooters so long as they have uploaded the app, regardless of experience riding the light, two-wheeled vehicles.

According to RideTwoWheels, speeds achieved on electric scooters depend on myriad factors: how much “juice” the battery packs provide, wattage of the motor, weight of the rider, tires, terrain and others. But the top speed of the majority of the electric scooters is usually around 20 miles per hour, according to the website. "That is just the right top speed to be allowed to use the bike lane," the website reads. "With recent improvements in battery capabilities you can find more and more models that can hit the 30 mph mark. But that is about how fast razor-type stand up scooters can go."

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>>> Photos of random scooters left after their use throughout Austin by Tony Cantú/Patch staff