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'Life-changing injuries': True extent of Lime scooter accidents revealed

A day after Lime Scooters was given two weeks to improve safety or face being turfed out of Brisbane, the true extent of the injury list at the hands of the company has been revealed.

Doctors and nurses in Brisbane’s emergency wards noticed a spike as soon as the scooters arrived in Brisbane and have been quietly keeping records.

Across three Brisbane hospitals there were 88 injuries in just two months.

Of those, 66 per cent were people aged 20-34.

Doctors and nurses in Brisbane’s emergency wards noticed a spike as soon as the scooters arrived in Brisbane. Source: 7News
Doctors and nurses in Brisbane’s emergency wards noticed a spike as soon as the scooters arrived in Brisbane. Source: 7News

Fifty-six per cent were men, while 44 per cent were female.

Injuries include head trauma, limb fractures, sprains and strains.

“We have ended up operating on a significant number of patients who will have life-changing injuries,” Dr Matthew Hope of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons revealed.

Queensland Health is now putting the finishing touches on an official report which will be released as early as next week.

One woman required surgery for a broken arm after falling from one of the scooters. Source: 7News
One woman required surgery for a broken arm after falling from one of the scooters. Source: 7News

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons has formally raised these concerns with the State Government and Brisbane City Council.

The report comes the same time as Lime confirmed there was a glitch affecting a handful of scooters across the globe.

The error causes the front wheel to lock randomly, which has caused injury to several riders.

“We recently became aware of a software issue that may cause the locking mechanism on the front wheel to engage while on a trip,” a company spokesperson told Yahoo7 News.

Ashlei-Jane Lee claims she broke her nose one of the scooters. Source: 7News
Ashlei-Jane Lee claims she broke her nose one of the scooters. Source: 7News

Notably, Adelaide woman Ashlei-Jane Lee, claims she broke her nose from a malfunctioning scooter.

The company vowed they are working around the clock to fix the issue.

“We have deployed a firmware update to resolve the wheel locking issue, and have seen a material reduction in the number of incidents reported of this nature since the update rollout,” the spokesperson said.

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