Electric scooter injuries surge 38% in Sweden, seven killed in 2025

Injuries from electric scooter accidents in Sweden rose sharply last year, with 6,498 people hurt—a 38% increase from 2024—according to new figures from the Swedish Transport Agency reported by TT.

Seven people died in 2025, up from five the previous year, the agency’s latest statistics show. Nearly half of those seriously injured were under 25, with incidents involving young riders climbing by over 43% compared to 2024.

Trauma surgeon Ragnar Ang at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg told TT that emergency rooms are seeing a wave of young patients, often with severe head injuries. “My colleagues at Drottning Silvia Children’s Hospital can have ten children come in on a single Saturday,” he said. “We’re talking brain bleeds, skull fractures—these are life-threatening if not treated immediately.”

The Transport Agency also noted a rise in accidents in smaller towns, suggesting a shift toward privately owned scooters, which are not subject to the same speed limits as rental models. Ang warned that many riders—often children—exceed safe speeds without helmets. “Only about 50% wear helmets, and they frequently ride two to a scooter,” he said. “We recently had a 15-year-old with a brain hemorrhage. Without surgery, these injuries can be fatal.”

Andreas Thor, a maxillofacial surgeon and professor at Uppsala University, previously told SVT that scooter-related accidents had created a “new patient group” overwhelming surgical units. In 2016, just eight injuries were recorded; by 2024, the number had jumped to 4,407.