E-scooter invasion in Berlin: Safety first?

E-scooters. All of us know them, some of us ride them, some of us are annoyed by them being and lying everywhere. More than 54,000 E-scooters are in Berlin and their number is steadily increasing. A large number of them are scattered carelessly thrown over, lying on their sides in parks on sidewalks etc., which is also problematic for disabled people. Imagine being blind and constantly tripping over the scooters. Of course they aren’t only negative aspects to them, for in actuality a lot of benefits can be found. As an example of this, many people regularly use them to get to work, stores, etc. and with E-scooter accidents only summing up to about two percent of total traffic accidents they seem quite safe, but this often leads to a false sense of security. But they are quite fun too. However, one could argue that they are too easily accessible to underage kids and teenagers (which are anyway prohibited from using them).  From personal experience, these teens are the people that seem to get hurt most due to not yet having a good idea of traffic and not being able to estimate distances well. But at least I think that this problem could be easily fixed through the apps not only asking you to type in your age but also having to scan a valid personal ID or other ways of identification. Another way one could solve this issue is that you always have to wear a helmet like on a bicycle. Another thing to take into consideration is cost. To rent an e-scooter costs about 19 cent in Berlin per minute (can vary depending on the provider). That means, that for a distance of 3km (1,8 miles) at a speed of 15 km/h (9,3 mph) would cost 2,28€, which is quite a lot less than a BVG ABC ticket (Einzelfahrschein) which costs 3,80€ for people over 14 (Regeltarif) and a little more than a ticket for people under 14 for which it costs 2,70€, but this isn’t really a valid argument, since students have free access to public transport anyway. Concludingly, it can be said that E-scooters as an idea are great and fun, however they are somewhat unsafe with injuries such as broken bones happening regularly.