Numerous Serious Electric Scooter Accidents in 2021

A new report on traffic accidents in 2021 from the Icelandic Transport Authority (Samgöngustofa) reveals a considerable increase in the number of accidents and injured people in Iceland that year, compared with 2020. 

The number of deaths and injured people last year was 1,162, up from 1,015 the previous year. Looking at the previous ten years, though, last year’s number were below the annual average, which was 1,219, mbl.is reports. 

The number of fatalities and seriously injured people was 208 in 2020, up from 157 the previous year, representing a 32.5 percent increase.

Last year, nine people died in traffic accidents in Iceland, compared with eight the year before. The ten-year average, by contrast, was 11.9 fatalities a year. Four of the fatalities last year occurred in the capital area, including one person riding a bike and one riding an electric scooter. Five of the fatalities last year were people who died in cars in rural areas.

Many accidents occurred when people rode electric scooters, many of them due to people riding under the influence, especially on weekends.

Among the 208 individuals who were either seriously injured in traffic accidents or died, 35, or 16.8 percent, were riding electric scooters. For the first time last year, the rider of an electric scooter died in an accident. If we didn’t count accidents involving electric scooters, the increase in the number of seriously injured or dead, compared with 2020, would be 13 percent instead of 32.5 percent.

Accidents due to people riding electric scooters under the influence are common. A poll conducted by the Icelandic Transport Authority revealed that 42 percent of Icelanders have used an electric scooter, and 29 percent of them have done so under the influence of alcohol.

The same poll shows that 79 percent of people aged 18-24 have used an electric scooter, and 40 percent of them have done so under the influence of alcohol.