Gaitree Gordon’s son was injured while riding an e-scooter earlier this summer.
“There was a rock on the sidewalk. It tilted, and he just fell right on his back, broke his femur,” said the Durham College employee.
Her son has been off work now for three months and is unsure when he will be able to return. He has two metal rods and three pins in his leg and has been in pain ever since.
Gordon said this is something her son will have to live with for the rest of his life.
“I’m totally against [e-scooters], to be honest with you,” she said.
The pilot program for e-scooters in Oshawa was renewed almost a year ago to offer affordable transportation.
According to the City of Oshawa, the pilot program was started in 2020 to permit e-scooters on the road. The program was temporarily paused after a 20-year-old woman was struck and killed while riding a e-scooter in May 2023 but returned last December.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) said during a 12-month period starting April 1, 2023, more than 1,000 people were hospitalized for scooter related injuries in Ontario.
Half of the injuries – 498 – were due to e-scooters.
Coun. Rick Kerr was part of the decision to extend the program in Oshawa. He said the program was introduced to replace buses that were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic and never returned.
“There is a challenge for people who want to take a bus, finding the most direct route to where they want to go,” said Kerr.
He said taking the bus in Oshawa can be “tricky” since the routes do not run in a grid-like pattern, and it can take more than an hour to go from one end to the other.
The e-scooters were introduced as a quicker and cheaper option for those without a car or other means of transportation.
The company BIRD supplies the scooters, and through the trial the City of Oshawa has been using the program for free. Users must pay to rent the scooters and input a valid driver’s license to operate them.
E-scooters are not permitted on sidewalks and must be ridden on the road since they are motorized. For user safety, it is recommended to ride them in the bike lanes and if there is no lane, ride close to the sidewalk.
The pilot program ends in 2027.