A Christchurch teenager is barely able to move her leg after crashing while riding a Lime e-scooter.
Hannah Millward has been bed-ridden in Christchurch Hospital for five days. The 18-year-old came off a Lime scooter while going 26km/h.
Ms Millward is one of the many e-scooter patients the hospital has dealt with. Her patella is now dislocated, and there are twisted ligaments and ripped nerves. The damage took just seconds to happen.
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"I think that all that came out of my mouth was screaming - it was very, very painful," she told Newshub
"I agree they're not the safest thing in the world. I was lucky I didn't hit my head on the road."
Since the scooters landed in New Zealand in October, the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has had more than 170 claims.
Of those, five were brain injuries or concussions, 27 were for broken bones and 61 for lacerations and punctures.
They are causing trouble overseas as well; a 25-year-old man died in the US after crashing his Lime scooter into a tree in St Louis on Saturday.
First responders said he was in cardiac arrest when they arrived, and may have suffered a medical emergency that caused him to crash.
With few regulations in place, authorities in New Zealand are grappling with how to safely manage e-scooters as the number on the streets is about to go up.
A company called ONZO plans to launch 500 in Auckland this weekend.
Meanwhile, it's understood a different company called Wave has delayed bringing its scooters to the streets until it sees how Lime's trial goes.
Lime is holding a scooter safety summit this weekend as part of a global push to educate riders on how to use them safely.
Ms Millward won't be rushing back on to a Lime scooter anytime soon, as she is on the go-slow for at least six weeks.
Newshub
