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news
Carrera e-scooterE-scooters five times safer for riders than bicycles, claims RoSPA study
A new study from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has claimed it is five times safer to ride an electric scooter than to ride a bicycle – adding that its research showed that the risk they are often said to pose to pedestrians is not borne out by official casualty statistics.
Privately-owned e-scooters are technically classified as motor vehicles and are banned in the UK and can only be ridden on private land with the landowner’s permission, but it is not against the law to sell them and sales have soared in recent years with many ridden illegally on public highways and on pavements – sometimes resulting in confiscation by the police.
Yesterday, transport secretary Grant Shapps told the House of Commons Transport Committee that the government plans to crack down on illegal sales of e-scooters – but added that approved models may be allowed to be ridden on the public highway, with legislation possibly being introduced in the Queen’s Speech on 10 May.
> E-scooters and the law: When and where are you legally allowed to ride an electric scooter?
In England, the Department for Transport (DfT) already permits trial hire schemes of e-scooters, with around 50 towns and cities currently participating in the initiative.
The trial sees people aged 18 and over who posses a full or provisional driving licences able to hire them from operators including Dott, Lime, Voi and Neuron Mobility, with the e-scooters geofenced so they can not be taken out of a specific area, and third party insurance provided as part of the hire package.
Neuron Mobility partnered with RoSPA for its study, which analysed DfT data, including road traffic casualty statistics, and compared e-scooters with other forms of transport.
The research found that collision rates for e-scooters were 0.66 per million miles travelled – five times lower than the rate for bicycles (3.33 collisions per million miles travelled), and nine time lower than that of motorcycles (5.88 collisions per million miles travelled).
> Near Miss of the Day 753: Wrong-way e-scooter rider cuts across cyclist
It also discovered that almost all reported incidents involving e-scooters happened in local authority areas where no rental scheme was in operation, which RosPA said underlined how safe such schemes were proven to be, in part due to the safety checks and regular maintenance and servicing carried out by operators.
The study concluded that:
The key finding is that e-scooters have lower casualty rates compared to other travel modes.
Our findings indicate that the risk to pedestrians is relatively low, despite the common perception.
We also found that there was no significant rise in incidents in the evening, again contrary to the perception that e-scooters are associated with anti-social behaviour around common pub closing times.
Private sales data and a more stable dataset (and a representative ‘average’ travel year to collect data) will enable firmer conclusions to be drawn in future.
Its authors said that “these findings suggest some important safety factors that should be taken into consideration for future E-scooter use in UK,” and made the following recommendations:
Given the rate of crashes that take place on single carriageways, further investment in road design improvements, including segregated bike and e-scooter lanes, would be beneficial.
Safety standards should be applied to improve the visibility of e-scooters on the road, including those that relate to indication, lighting and braking.
Providing mandatory training on the Highway Code and the practical operation of e-scooters would be beneficial for all users.
Awareness and training on e-scooter behaviour for other road users, in particular car drivers, would be beneficial.
E-scooter users should be encouraged to wear helmets when riding.
“Whilst it’s clear from the data available, that e-scooters in general carry a comparatively low risk to third parties and a risk for riders which is less than that of bicycle user’s, safety must remain a focus for everyone involved in the e-scooter industry,” the report said.
“RoSPA encourages all e-scooter operators, and manufacturers of private e-scooters, to increase their focus on safety, including product design and manufacture, passive safety features and rider education programmes,” it added.
“We also encourage riders to follow the rules laid down in the Highway Code and to protect themselves by using lights, good road craft and a helmet.”
RoSPA’s executive head of policy and research, Nathan Davies, said: “E-scooters are clearly set to be a long-term feature of our transport mix and it’s of pressing importance that we understand their impact on road safety and how they can be made safe for everyone to use.
“This report shows that e-scooters compare favourably to other kinds of vehicles and do not represent any greater safety risk to other road users and pedestrians. However, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure they are integrated on our highways and make sure both e-scooter riders and cyclists are offered greater protections from motor vehicles, which were the source of the vast majority of incidents.
“Rental e-scooter operators, like Neuron, taking part in the Department for Transport’s trial schemes have demonstrated a strong commitment to safety and rider education. However, we need to see these initiatives filter across to private sale models, where the majority of incidents occur, to ensure any wider rollout is done with safety as a priority.”
Neuron Mobility’s UK George regional manager, George Symes, added: “As a relatively new mode of transport there is often a misperception that e-scooters present a greater risk than some other forms of transport, but the data shows this simply isn’t true.
“We welcome RoSPA’s report which shows that e-scooters – particularly rental e-scooters – compare very favourably to bikes and motorcycles when it comes to the number of incidents.
"Neuron’s number one focus is safety. We evaluate every incident that takes place in our cities to assess how we can reduce the risk of it happening again.
“Across the UK we have implemented a range of initiatives to make our operations safer, including an online safety course developed with RoSPA, regular ScootSafe events in city centres and universities and incentives for helmet use and safe parking.
“We know that with the right investment in technology, education and infrastructure, e-scooters can be made even safer and more accessible.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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67 comments
But even though (IIRC) you're supposed to wear a helmet on those rental e-scooters, how often do you notice a scooterist actually wearing one?
Nope - no such requirement.
Not strictly required to but still strongly encouraged (the Guardian article on Wednesday notes that you get a discount with some operators if you upload a picture of yourself wearing a helmet).
Encouraging taking photos while using them seems like an, er, 'interesting' way of improving safety.
T & C for Voi scooters
https://www.voiscooters.com/voi-user-agreement-12rr/
Depends what's meant by a 'requirement' though. That doesn't make it an offence - only a violation of your agreement with Voi. It basically just means that you're giving them an excuse to cancel your account, and refuse to compensate you in the event of an incident (potentially also to claim damages against you, though that seems unlikely).
In terms of traffic law, scooter users are explicitly exempted from mandatory helmets.
You are also supposed to have a driving license (provisional is fine) when creating an account. How many people using them are school kids again?
Are you certain those are rentals?
I thought, as the law requires a driving license on the rentals, that the app would need one on registration.
https://www.voiscooters.com/how-to-voi/
The only one I've tried in the UK was the scheme in Bournemouth (Beryl?) - I didn't need my driving license when creating my account, but did the first time I tried renting a scooter. I didn't have my license handy so hired one of their push bikes instead - which wasn't terrible.
Kids can't use the rental scooters... unless an adult with a driving licence activates the account. Given that the driving licence will likely be checked against the payment card (and probably a verification video), if you see kids on a rental scooter, the account will almost certainly belong to their parent.
Recent weekend trip to Berlin with my partner, and she convinced me to try using rental e-scooters to get around. I was pretty hesitant at first, but have to say, I was completely sold on the idea after the first ride. Extremely convenient (and inexpensive) way of getting round the city. Now, as a resident of the Netherlands, I would rather share the bike lanes with these, than with all the motor scooters. One thing that I really liked was that there geofenced areas where you couldn't park the scooter after a ride. Bloody awful on cobbles though!
Where did they get the data from to know how far and how many trips were made, especially by illegal scooters.
How did they factor in geofencing ?
What data was used by ROSPA? Hard to imagine scooters are 5x safer. I wonder if it was data from the official schemes only that was used? Users would only need to report if they injured someone else / were injured by someone else, and would likely not report self injuries. Those on illegally used scooters would be less likely to report any injuries.
My first thought on this, too.
Data that supported the conclusions decided by who was paying for the study.
I've always thought they can't be good on our pothole riddled roads with tiny wheels. It's bad enough on a bike... Or a car!
The first recorded death e-scooter death (some minor celeb / influencer) was due to some bump/inspection cover in the road (cycle lane). Although there was also mention of a severely underflated front tyre as well.
eScooters will be great if they get people out of cars rather than simply reducing the amount of walking people do.
I would have thought that the average standard of riding will improve once the average rider isn't someone who's happy to break the law, risk points on their driving licence and ride something that could be confiscated by the police at the drop of a hat.
Personally, I think that derestricted eBikes pose a much bigger threat to pedestrians and other road users than eScooters.
Some good points - especially about modal split. Example - some UK increases in cycling share were simply some people moving from bus / rail to bike rather than swapping car for bike (London). Probably if you get a scooter it's similar to if you get a car. You then end up using it for some trips you might otherwise walk, cycle or use public transport for.
I'm ambivalent - I don't think they're the end of the world. If they reduced car use then great - but I wonder how much. I hope they'd be a kind of gateway to better infra which could then benefit cylists (power-assisted or not) but again we'll have to see.
Other than that - they might have mobility benefits to some people maybe? I'd suspect some kind of bike would be better. I hear what others have said - yes they're not light but they're a bit easier to store / shift about than eg. an ebike. Not sure how they compare power-wise to a non-pedal-driven ebike. Having more people being moved around by motors rather than getting some exercise / movement? Not exactly a new dawn.
I doubt they'll reduce much car use until we see 'cargo' e-scooters. People use their cars when they don't want to carry something.
You're quite right, but a cargo e-scooter would be entirely pointless, wouldn't it, the only advantage e-scooters have over ebikes is that you can fold them up small, a cargo version...
But I just signed up for one on Kickstarter!
A scooter rider, much like a cyclist, doesn't want to hit a pedestrian. Any collision will inflict as much damage and injury on them as the walker, relatively.
It's not like car, van or lorry drivers.
Hmm. I'm not against e-scooters per se but I must say that the number of accidents they are involved in may not be consonant with the number they cause, I do spend quite a lot of time in London swerving around them as they bang on and off pavements - quite a few riders round here seem to have decided that as they're illegal on both road and pavement they'll use both as suits, particularly around junctions. One thing that really needs to be sorted is lights, a back light two inches off the ground is no use to anyone, if they are legalized surely mandatory waist-high lights must be part of it?
My experience is much the same (not saying it trumps the data). Whether I'm cycling or on foot, the overwhelming majority of close passes (including those with actual light contact) come from escooter riders. If I'm riding through my local park, it's never a cyclist who weaves between me and a pushchair at 30kph+.
That said, they're never on rental scooters either (of which there are many around here). Perhaps their illegality, and the complete lack of enforcement of that illegality, enhances their attractiveness to the more antisocial? I can certainly see a use case for some of our local young entrepreneurs in being able to travel extremely quickly in near-silence...
I think you're onto something there. Which adolescent without a cause does not wish to cock a snook at social order?
You'll be calling for mandatory hi-viz tabards next.
What a silly comment. Do you think bicycles shouldn't have to have lights at night? If you think they shouldn't, that's absurd, if you think they should then presumably you will be calling for mandatory high viz tabards next? You don't have to try and start an argument about everything, you know.
Why is it a problem if the light is so close to the ground? The only time I could see it would be an issue is when being ridden in a hilly location.
I'm guessing because Rendel's assuming that the light doesn't emit equally brightly at all angles. One nearer to the height of a motorist's eye level is likely to be closer to the optimum angle for brightness for longer as the distance closes. Not sure if this is significant but it's difficult to judging distance to lights at night - does having ones lower (most are around car driver eye-level) affect that?
I think more of an issue is that of "no moving lights" and visibility from the side. I think movement *relative* to other lights on a bike is a helpful cue for motorists. All my current tyres have reflective side-walls and one has spoke reflectors - so there's plenty of side reflectivity and some will move. I've always got pedal reflectors / ankle bands of some kind. (The recumbent isn't extreme enough to see my legs over my head so that doesn't help but as long as they've got their headlights on it seems to be very salient on the road for drivers). Compare with this chap (from Ogmios):
https://youtu.be/9FEO-XKo4cw?t=107
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