By Mikayla van Loon
A Croydon man, who succumbed to a traumatic brain injury after an e-scooter accident, has sparked calls from a state coroner for safer use of these popular modes of transport.
Daniel McNeill, 39, was found unconscious on Maroondah Highway in Ringwood by passerby Gregory Kerr around 6.14am on 2 February 2023.
Mr Kerr noticed Mr McNeill was not wearing a helmet and his phone and e-scooter were on the pavement several metres away.
Calling emergency services, Mr Kerr was advised there was a 40-to-60-minute wait for an ambulance, according to the coroner’s report.
Mr McNeill eventually regained consciousness but was rather agitated and abusive.
Victoria Police were alerted to a reportedly verbally abusive male who had “collided with a letter box” at around 6.24am.
Moments later Mr McNeill was said to have mounted the e-scooter and rode off in “zig-zag fashion” down the nearby Mullum Mullum Creek trail.
Mr Kerr told police he believed Mr McNeill was drug-affected and was concerned he would have another collision.
This happened at around 6.30am when Leora Dobia was in bed and heard someone outside “moaning and swearing”.
At 6.45am she located Mr McNeill in her driveway in a reduced conscious state and bleeding from the mouth and nose.
Police and paramedics arrived around 7am but Mr McNeill resisted treatment for his injuries and refused a cervical collar and C-spine precautions, requiring police assistance to get him on the stretcher and into the ambulance.
He was taken to Maroondah Hospital where he was searched by police where a mobile phone, car keys, a knife, a pipe, measuring scales, a piece of straw, and multiple resealable bags containing approximately 15.5 grams of an opaque white crystal substance believed to be ice (methylamphetamine) were located.
A toxicological analysis of a blood sample taken upon admission revealed the presence of methylamphetamine (~0.30mg/L).
Emergency physician Dr Erin Woodward identified a head injury and ordered a CT scan which showed “a large extradural haemorrhage with associated midline shift (bleed around the brain causing build-up of pressure”. A base of skull fracture and subarachnoid were also apparent.
At 9.15am, Mr McNeill was intubated and sedated with morphine and midazolam. He was also given mannitol to reduce intracranial pressure and was prepared to be transported to The Alfred Hospital via Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedics.
Mr McNeill underwent an emergency craniotomy and evacuation of the haemorrhage.
But after slowly being weaned out of sedation, Mr McNeill showed no signs of neurological improvement and doctors and his family made the decision to stop active treatment.
He was transferred to the Palliative Care Unit of Wantirna Hospital for end-of-life care on 28 February 2023.
His mechanical ventilation was switched off the following day and Mr McNeill subsequently passed away at 2am on 2 March 2023.
The forensic examination confirmed Mr McNeill’s death was a result of “complications following extradural haemorrhage (operated) sustained in an electric scooter incident (rider)”.
Coroner Ingrid Giles echoed concerns expressed by fellow coroners that improved education “about the conditions and requirements for the safer riding of e-scooters” was critical.
“This ought to be done with a view of swiftly improving the safety culture of a mode of transport that otherwise appears promising in terms of its ability to reduce environmental impacts, improve urban mobility, and to constitute a more affordable form of transport when compared with cars and other vehicles,” Coroner Giles said.
Victorian law requires anyone operating an e-scooter to be wearing a helmet, abide by the same blood alcohol content and drug use restrictions as motor vehicle drivers, not ride on footpaths, and not exceed 20 kilometres per hour, with e-scooters capable of exceeding 25 kilometres per hour being classified as an unregistered motor vehicle and illegal for use in public settings.
Coroner Giles, however, also referred to the high number of presentations to emergency departments recorded at both The Alfred Hospital and the Royal Melbourne despite these enforced safety measures.
Between January 2022 and January 2023 the Royal Melbourne Hospital had 256 presentations because of e-scooter accidents, with 53.1 per cent of patients having cranial, facial and cervical spine injuries.
Fractures were observed to be the second most common type of injury (47.7 per cent), followed by head injuries (16.4 per cent).
The use of recreational drugs and alcohol were observed in 11.3 per cent and 33.6 per cent of riders, respectively, and 26.3 per cent of presenting patients reported failing to wear a helmet.
The Alfred Hospital saw 272 presentations between 1 January 2017 and 31 May 2022 noting that 18 per cent were without helmets and traumatic brain injuries were sustained by 24.5 per cent of patients who had failed to wear a helmet.
Alcohol and illicit drug use also equated to approximately 23.9 per cent of presentations.
“The power output and speed capability of this scooter have the potential to, very quickly, place a rider in a situation where they are at the limits of controllability,” Coroner Giles quoted from Coroner Lawrie following an investigation into the death of a 51-year-old man from Cranbourne North.
“The consequences of a crash at the high speeds these vehicles are capable of, particularly when the rider has no head protection, are all too likely to be catastrophic.”
Coroner Giles agreed with Coroner Simon McGregor’s recommendation that the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) should liaise with the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) to design the best approach to educate and inform riders of safety.
