Children playing on microscooters should be supervised and should be wearing protective helmets and knee- and elbow-pads when on hard surfaces, the director of consumer affairs has said.
Ms Carmel Foley issued her warning following reports that 151 children have been injured in micro-scooter accidents in the first three months of this year. The figures are contained in a study carried out by Dr Patrick Kiely and Mr Michael Stephens at Temple Street Children's Hospital and Dr Paul Kiely and Mr Edmund Fogarty at Our Lady's Hospital For Sick Children in Crumlin.
The report was presented to a meeting of the Irish Orthopaedics Association in Cavan yesterday.
Dr Kiely said he and his colleagues were "amazed" at the number of injuries resulting from micro-scooter accidents.
"Thirty-nine per cent of the study required hospital admission," said Dr Kiely, "with 13 per cent of that total requiring operations." The study noted that some micro-scooters could reach speeds of up to 30 km per hour. According to a spokeswoman for Banba Toymaster in Dublin, the light aluminium micro-scooters were "very, very, very popular".
Ms Foley advised parents to ensure their children used their scooters only in safe and, where possible, supervised environments.
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