Background Wheeled recreational vehicles (WRV) are becoming a popular transportation choice among younger commuters. While users of WRV such as skateboards, scooters, and roller-blades are legally regarded as pedestrians in some jurisdictions, injuries occurring due to the use of these devices are not often classified as pedestrian injuries unless a motor vehicle is involved.

Methods We seek to describe non-vehicle WRV accidental injury when used in public roads and footpaths. We retrospectively reviewed data from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) for calendar years 2008–2017.

Results There was a total of 1922 non-intentional WRV single events occurring in the traffic environment treated in emergency departments. The mean age of the injured was 13 (SD = 7) with 99% of the events been a fall. Males (73%) were most commonly injured and the trauma most frequently occurred on weekdays (60%) compare to weekends (40%). Upper extremity (54%) and the head (16%) was the most common injured body part while fractures (40%) and sprain-strains (21%) were the most common type of injury. Brain Injury was found to be an important risk factor for hospital admissions.

Conclusions Head and brain injuries due to WRV non-vehicle injury could be an important contributor to considerable health care costs and long-term disabilities for young Queenslanders.

Learning Outcomes The findings support a revision of Queensland legislation currently not requiring WRV helmet use in the traffic environment.