Take care when you take a ride. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

Although COVID took a whack at micromobility systems in the U.S., there is something of a comeback, with some 130 cities in the U.S. offering e-scooter sharing systems from companies including Lime and Bird.

A study of e-scooter crashes in urban environments was conducted by Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, and funded by the Swedish Transport Administration (as Chalmers is in Sweden).

Seventeen rental scooter were setup with sensors.

Data from 6,868 trips were acquired and analyzed.

One of the findings was, well, somewhat unsurprising: Marco Dozza, who participated in the study, said, “The risk of being involved in a crash is greatest the first time you ride an electric scooter. For those who have ridden less than five times, the risk is still more than twice as high.”

Perhaps part of this has something to do with how some people pilot the scooters, thinking it is analogous to a bicycle.

It isn’t.

Dozza: “It is not possible to steer and brake with an electric scooter in the same way as with a bicycle, so riding with one hand on the handlebar is significantly more difficult – and dangerous – than many people might think.”

One-handed riding increases the risk of a “safety-critical event” by 6.5 times.

One surprise about the vehicles involved with e-scooters in these events: the greatest percentage didn’t involve other scooters, but cars.

30.2% of safety-critical incidents were between an e-scooter and a car or van. 19% with other scooters. 15.9% with pedestrians. 4.8% with bicycles.

Dozza: “Since bicycles and electric scooters should be ridden on bike lanes, I had expected more conflicts with bicycles. The fact that so many cars are involved suggests that many crashes may occur when the electric scooter is ridden outside the bike lanes, or when there is no bike infrastructure available. The risk of crashes is greatest at intersections, and my impression, even though this is not something that the study has concluded, is that it may be difficult for motorists to see the electric scooter riders in time, especially if they are not riding on a bike path.”

This all makes e-scooter commuting seem rather risky.