Father urges tighter limits after girl’s high-speed scooter crash

ERR reported that 12-year-old Elisabet was seriously injured in an electric scooter crash in May, prompting her father, Pert Lomp, to call for stricter limits on powerful scooters used by children.

Elisabet crashed in Järveküla while riding a borrowed electric scooter. The scooter was travelling at more than 55 kilometres per hour, and she was not wearing a helmet. She fell into a coma for several days.

Elisabet has since recovered almost fully, although her sense of smell and taste and hearing in one ear remain a concern. Doctors have told the family that these problems should improve as she continues to recover.

Elisabet does not remember the crash, only the morning of the accident. It later emerged that she had borrowed the scooter from a friend to go and buy pastries.

There was reportedly no difficult traffic situation at the crash site. The road was straight and visibility was good. Most likely, the scooter’s handlebars began to wobble at high speed, causing Elisabet to lose control. A woman who witnessed the crash immediately called an ambulance.

Lomp learned about the accident from the school principal. He, Elisabet’s mother and her sister arrived as paramedics were placing her in the ambulance.

“I ran to the ambulance to make contact with my daughter, and then I realised that something was very wrong,” Lomp said on the programme Hommik Anuga. “Her eyes were rolled back and there were sounds coming from her, but it was the kind of sound that left me unable to say anything.”

The family already owned scooters before the crash, but they had a maximum speed of about 25 kilometres per hour, and the children wore helmets while riding them. The younger children had nevertheless wanted their parents to buy them more powerful machines.

“We had long discussions. She really wanted one. As a father, I was almost ready to give in, but I told my daughter to finish the school year and that we would return to the issue after seeing her report and everything else. Now it is permanently off the agenda,” Lomp said.

He urged other parents not to give in to every wish their children expressed.

“It is better to see a child sulking for two or three days than never to see them again,” Lomp said. “Sometimes you have to be a strict mother or father to prevent something that could create a situation like the one our family went through.”

After the crash, Lomp posted about it on social media and warned other parents. He said he received supportive messages from other parents, many of whom told him they would no longer buy their children fast electric scooters.