It had to happen sooner or later — someone has died riding an electric scooter on a busy Fort Lauderdale road.
The death was believed to be the first in the county involving an E-scooter, according to the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office.
The popular dockless devices have many critics, and have led to several traumatic injuries, but they have escaped a ban in Fort Lauderdale.
Apart from the rash of serious injuries, there have been complaints about underage riders, people who don’t wear helmets, scooters crowding out pedestrians on sidewalks, and of riders who venture into roadways.
And that’s what appeared to happen Thursday night. A man, who has not yet been identified, rode a Lime electric scooter along North Federal Highway and collided with a Mazda 6 sedan at about 11:27 p.m. Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue paramedics took the injured man to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
In November, Fort Lauderdale contracted with four companies — Lime, Bird, Bolt and Gotcha— for a combined total fleet of about 1,700 scooters. After riders used them on city sidewalks for three months, city commissioners in February held a public hearing about them and ultimately decided not to ban them.
On Dec. 30, Broward County Circuit Court Judge Susan Alspector was hospitalized after a young scooter rider hit her while she jogged near A1A and East Las Olas Boulevard.
Alspector was able to return to work in two days, but nearly four months later, she is still healing from the accident, her Judicial Assistant Stacy McMenemy said Friday.
As the scooters became popular, there were other reports of injuries. In December, a 14-year-old boy riding a scooter was left critically injured a block from Thursday night’s crash after he collided with a hit-and-run driver.
Also in December, a woman who worked in security at Broward Health Medical Center was riding a scooter and struck by a car at the intersection of Southwest Third Avenue and Southwest Fifth Street. She was left in a coma for at least six weeks, according to her family’s attorney, Todd Falzone.
In February, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said they had responded to at least 35 scooter injuries involving people ages 14 to 62. Four of those patients had traumatic injuries. More recent statistics for scooter emergencies were not available Friday.
From November through March, 493,647 scooter rides were taken, the city said.
Thursday’s deadly crash happened in the northbound lanes of the 500 block, north of East Broward Boulevard and a few blocks south of Holiday Park.
The driver of the car stayed at the scene and no charges are expected to be filed, Fort Lauderdale Police spokeswoman Casey Liening said Friday.
“The scooter was in the roadway when it was struck by the vehicle,” Liening said.
In Fort Lauderdale, E-scooter riders are permitted to travel on sidewalks.
The man had been with a group of friends who were also on scooters when the crash happened.
“It’s unclear if they were also in the roadway,” Liening said.
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta
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