A Queensland mum is calling for stronger safety laws for e-scooter after her daughter was involved in a near-fatal accident.
Rebecca Cronan purchased a $50 helmet for 12-year-old daughter Ruby before she started riding her scooter last week.
Cronan tells 9News the helmet saved her life – but she now wants the laws to protect other kids from getting hurt.
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“She got the helmet on Saturday, thank God because it saved her life,” Cronan says.
“Shout-out to Anaconda in Maroochydore, it was $50 and it was fluro pink.”
Cronan bought Ruby an e-scooter after three months of her daughter asking for one.
E-scooter riders must wear a helmet under Queensland law, which can be a bicycle helmet or motorcycle helmet.
She says the scooter purchase was a “mistake” after the pre-teen was hit by a car while riding to school in Maroochydore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
“I did a lot of thinking about it, but I still made a mistake,” she adds.
In Queensland, children aged 12 to 16 can ride under adult supervision with no licence.
Cronan says she believes this is far too young.
“Between 16 and 18 and doing a day course, an educational day course would be great,” she says.
“Education about cars on the road and [education about] the fact you can hit a human on a scooter and really, really injure them.
“Helmets are a must. The laws have not caught up with them at all. I will definitely never be putting [Ruby] on one again, until she can make that decision.”
Ruby was trapped under the car for about 10 minutes and suffered collapsed lungs, a ruptured spleen, internal bleeding and suspected brain damage.
She was put into an induced coma and her condition has since improved from critical to stable.
Cronan says it’s a miracle her daughter wasn’t more injured and describes her condition as “excellent”.
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“Ruby was brought out of the coma on Friday, there was no brain bleed but brain damage is still up in the air,” she says.
“On the MRI scans, it showed nothing. No broken bones, but we’ve got to go slow. It’s a slow process.”
After Ruby woke from her coma on Friday, the schoolgirl started walking and talking two days later on Sunday.
“She’s laughing and she’s starving,” Cronan says. “Her balance is off, we have to assist her with walking but she can do it.”
“She has a tear in her spleen and it’s still there and bleeding. It took a while for her to come off the medication and she’s been delirious, that’s a concern.”
While Ruby recovers in Sunshine Coast University Hospital, her mum is turning her attention to e-scooter safety in Australia.
Queensland Police told 9News no charges have been laid following the accident and an investigation is ongoing.
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