{"id":777368,"date":"2026-07-03T22:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777368\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:59:13","slug":"townsville-boy-left-with-broken-eye-socket-from-e-scooter-collision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777368\/","title":{"rendered":"Townsville boy left with broken eye socket from e-scooter collision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Blackshaw was pushing his scooter through the school gate on his way home when he was struck by a rider on an e-scooter.<\/p>\n

“I remember taking a step out, and [then a] big shot of pain, and I remember I wasn’t able to open my eye,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There were a lot of injuries on my body.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Teachers and parents called an ambulance for the 10-year-old. (Supplied: Jack Stuart-Sutherland)<\/p>\n

The collision with a teenage rider left the 10-year-old with a fractured eye socket, concussion, two fractured fingers, cuts to his forehead that required 25 stitches, and other cuts and bruising.<\/p>\n

He has returned home after a six-night stay at the Townsville University Hospital, but his injuries require ongoing, daily care from his parents, as well as weekly check-ups.<\/p>\n

“I just don’t want to go back to school after that, but I guess I also do want to go back because I miss my friends,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s not going to be very fun, I don’t think.”<\/p>\n

Police dealt with a 13-year-old offender under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act following the incident last month.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cooper Blackshaw and his father, Jack Stuart-Sutherland, in the hospital. (Supplied: Jack Stuart-Sutherland)<\/p>\n

Licence or supervision now required<\/p>\n

This week, new laws came into effect in Queensland<\/a>, introducing age limits and usage requirements for e-bikes and e-scooters.<\/p>\n

From August 31, riders will be required to hold a learner’s permit to operate the devices, with some medical exemptions.<\/p>\n

Children aged between 12 and 17 who do not have a valid learner’s permit will only be able to ride an e-bike or e-scooter while being supervised by a parent.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cooper Blackshaw says he is relieved to be home, but his injuries are still painful. (Supplied: Jack Stuart-Sutherland)<\/p>\n

Parents of children operating the devices illegally could be held responsible if they are unable to prove they were not aware of their child’s conduct, a change from a complete ban for under-16s initially proposed by the government.<\/p>\n

Cooper’s father, Jack Stuart-Sutherland, said he believed under-16s should not operate the devices.<\/p>\n

“They don’t have the road sense, they don’t have the ability to do it safely until [they’re] around 16,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t really have a whole lot against electric scooters or bikes before this, but now it’s sort of opened our eyes to the fact that there is a lot of potential there for injury.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jack Stuart-Sutherland (left), with Cooper, says he did not realise how severe e-scooter injuries could be. (ABC News: Meghan Dansie)<\/p>\n

Stricter laws follow thousands of injuries<\/p>\n

Last year, more than five Queenslanders<\/a> a day ended up in the emergency department because of e-scooter and e-bike injuries.<\/p>\n

Anna Grant is a trauma clinical nurse consultant at the Townsville University Hospital, which had the highest number of e-scooter injuries in the state last year, according to Queensland Health data.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Anna Grant says most e-scooter injuries can be prevented through responsible use. (Supplied: Townsville Hospital and Health Service)<\/p>\n

Ms Grant said the number of people presenting to the hospital with injuries from mobility devices had risen over the past five years.<\/p>\n

“The more serious injuries that we see would be things like fractures to the skull, more severe head injuries, that may even require intensive care, and prolonged treatment and rehabilitation,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Grant said injuries were commonly made more severe by the lack of a helmet, higher speeds, distraction and alcohol.<\/p>\n

“We will care for you if you get injured, that’s our role, and that’s what we want to do for you, to get you better and back home, but what we see again and again is that these injuries are preventable,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cooper Blackshaw was wearing a helmet at the time of the collision. (Supplied: Jack Stuart-Sutherland)<\/p>\n

Cooper said he was happy to be continuing his recovery at home.<\/p>\n

“It feels really nice to sleep in my own bed and be able to just be there with my family,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It was pretty scary.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooper Blackshaw was pushing his scooter through the school gate on his way home when he was struck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,368524,38911,199566,38918,368525,44,368526,139841],"class_list":["post-777368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boy-hit-by-e-scooter","tag-e-bike","tag-e-scooter","tag-e-scooter-laws","tag-new-laws-for-e-bikes","tag-news","tag-queensland-e-scooter-laws","tag-townsville-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}