Risk-taking behaviors of e-scooter users: A survey in Paris

Fatal traffic accidents involving electric scooters in Poland in 2019-2023

With the introduction of mobile applications that allow short-term rentals, electric scooters (e-scooters) are gaining popularity as a means of micromobility in urban areas. The aim of the study was to assess the circumstances and causes of death in traffic accidents involving electric scooters in Poland. The inclusion criteria for the study were met by 9 cases (7 M,2F; mean age: 40.3 years). Accidents usually occur during working days during the warm months, especially during the morning traffic rush hour. Usually, these accidents involved another vehicle (4/9 cases). In addition, the victim was most often the driver (8/9 cases) and rarely uses a helmet (1/9 cases). In only two cases did the test reveal the presence of alcohol in the blood at the time of the accident. In studied cases, head injuries occurred in every case, and injuries to the limbs and chest occurred in more than half of the cases. Within the head, in addition to minor injuries like bruises and epidermal abrasions, skull fractures, and intracranial bleedings predominated. Similar minor injuries were also observed in the extremities, with significant fractures observed only in the lower extremities. Among chest injuries, lung contusions predominated. The most common cause of death was craniocerebral injury (6/9 cases), but there were two deaths each from chest injuries and polytrauma. To increase the safety of e-scooter users, it is recommended that measures be taken to educate users about the potential risks of using the vehicle and that measures be taken to increase the use of helmets, e.g. through legislative action. Further studies involving larger study groups are needed to assess the correlation between potential risk factors and the fatal outcome of the accident.

Work-related road traffic accidents: emergence of new modes of personal journey - analysis based on data from a register of road traffic accidents in France

INTRODUCTION

According to the 2018-2019 People Mobility Survey, work-related journeys (commuting and on-duty journeys) account for approximately 25% of all journeys. The use of non-motorised (nm) and motorised (m) personal mobility devices (PMDs) has steadily increased since their introduction into the French market in the last decade.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to describe the characteristics of work-related road accidents and their evolution since the introduction of new PMDs in France and the increase in the use of scooters.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a retrospective, cross-sectional study using data from the Rhône Road Trauma Registry. Data were collected from 2015 to 2020. We included the data for the victims aged 18-70 years who were injured in work-related road accidents.

RESULTS

We identified 11 296 individuals aged 18-70 years who experienced work-related road accidents. An injury report was provided for a total of 11 277 patients. A total of 546 passengers and 78 drivers of other motorised vehicles (buses/trams, construction equipment and tractors) were excluded from the analysis. Seven patients died at the time of the accident and seven died after hospitalisation. Of the 10 653 (94.4%) victims, there were pedestrians (5.1%) or riders of bicycles (16.9%), scooters (3.8%), other PMDs (roller blades, skateboards, monowheels, gyropods and hoverboards; 0.4%) and motorised two wheelers (21.4%), or drivers of car (45.3%), and truck (1.5%). More than half of the scooter riders and 80% of other PMD riders were men. More than 60% of other PMD riders and 53% of scooter riders were under 34 years of age. Most scooter road accidents occurred during commuting (95.6%). 65% of the scooter accidents and 50% of other PMD accidents did not have opponents. Overall, one-quarter of the victims experienced accidents without opponents. Most scooter riders had injuries to their upper limbs (59.2%), lower limbs (46.8%), face (21.2%) or head (17.9%).

DISCUSSION

This original study on work-related road accidents allowed us to characterise the increase in work-related road accidents associated with new modes of travel, particularly scooters. The results observed for users of scooters and other PMDs in this study were generally consistent with those found in the scientific literature. Despite limited data, the results suggest that accidents involving scooters or other PMDs are of low severity.

CONCLUSION

Many head injuries could be prevented with more widespread use of helmets, among scooter and other PMD users and bicycle users.

Pedestrians' safety using projected time-to-collision to electric scooters

Safety concern among electric scooter riders drives them onto sidewalks, endangering pedestrians and making them uncomfortable. Regulators' solutions are inconsistent and conflicting worldwide. Widely accepted pedestrian safety metrics may lead to converging solutions. Adapting the time-to-collision from car traffic safety, we define projected time-to-collision and experimentally study pedestrians' objective and subjective safety. We design isolated and crowd experiments using e-scooter-to-pedestrian interactions to assess the impact of various factors on objective safety. In addition, we conducted a pedestrian survey to relate the subjective safety and the metric. We report a strong correlation between subjective safety and the projected time-to-collision when agents face each other and no relation when the e-scooter overtakes a pedestrian. As a near-miss metric correlated with pedestrian comfort, projected time-to-collision is implementable in policy-making, urban architecture, and e-scooter design to enhance pedestrian safety.

E-scooters: Still the new kid on the transport block. Assessing e-scooter legislation knowledge and illegal riding behaviour

The use of e-scooters is rapidly increasing in cities, leading to their integration into the transportation system. However, numerous collisions involving e-scooters, including some resulting in fatalities, have been reported since their introduction. These incidents indicate that the potential dangers posed by e-scooters may be underestimated. Research suggests that a significant factor contributing to these collisions is the prevalence of illegal riding behaviour exhibited by many riders. This paper presents three studies that aimed to assess the understanding of e-scooter riders and non-riders of the current legislation across various riding scenarios and link it to their profile, riding habits, and their proneness to engage in illegal riding behaviours. Study 1 utilised questionnaires to survey participants and gather information about their profiles and self-reported illegal riding behaviour. Study 2 focused on assessing participants' knowledge of the current e-scooter legislation through different everyday riding scenarios. Study 3 featured short video clips from the rider's perspective to determine the proneness of participants to engage in illegal riding behaviour and explore the potential relationship between these behaviours and their understanding of e-scooter rules. The findings revealed that e-scooter riders were generally younger and exhibited a higher propensity for engaging in illegal riding behaviour than non-users. Both groups demonstrated limited knowledge regarding various aspects of the current e-scooter legislation, particularly related to parking, speeding, and designated infrastructure. While e-scooter riders demonstrated relatively greater knowledge of the e-scooter rules, this was not consistently observed across all areas, particularly in relation to riding on pavements (pedestrian footpaths). Furthermore, Study 3 revealed that participants with better knowledge of the current legislation were less likely to engage in illegal riding behaviour. These findings suggest a need for targeted interventions and educational campaigns to improve riders' understanding of regulations and promote safer riding practices. Implementing training programs for e-scooter safety could significantly enhance riders' awareness of the associated dangers, fostering responsible e-scooter use.

Injury severity analysis of single-vehicle and two-vehicle crashes with electric scooters: A random parameters approach with heterogeneity in means and variances

In recent years, the electric scooter has become one of the most popular means of transportation on short trips. Due to the lag in the formulation of transportation policies and regulations, coupled with the increasing number of electric scooter crashes, there has been growing concern about the safety of pedestrians and electric scooter riders. For the first time in the extant literature, this study aims to analyze injury severity of electric scooter crashes by unobserved heterogeneity modeling approaches. A random parameters approach with heterogeneity in means and variances is utilized to examine the factors influencing injury severity, using data collected from the STATS19 road safety database. Electric scooter crashes are classified as single-vehicle crashes and two-vehicle crashes, with injury severity categorized into two groups: fatalities or serious injuries, and slight injuries. The model estimation was conducted by considering several variables including roadway, environment, temporality, vehicle, and rider characteristics, as well as second-party vehicle and driver characteristics and manners of collision specific to two-vehicle crashes. The results of the model estimation reveal that certain factors had relatively stable effects with the varying degree of crash injury severity outcomes in both single-vehicle crashes and two-vehicle crashes. These factors include nighttime incidents, weekdays, male riders, and an increase in rider age, all of which are associated with more severe injury outcomes. Moreover, the random parameters logit model with heterogeneity in means and variances is more flexible in accounting for unobserved heterogeneity and exhibits better goodness of fit. This study improves the understanding of electric scooter safety, and the finding can better inform public policy regarding electric scooter use to improve road safety and reduce injury severity of electric scooter crashes.

Analysis and prediction of injury severity in single micromobility crashes with Random Forest

Urban micromobility represents a significant shift towards sustainable cities, underscoring the paramount importance of its safety. With the surge in micromobility adoption, collisions involving micromobility devices, such as bicycles and e-scooters, have surged in recent years. The second most common crash type involving these vehicles is one that only involves a micromobility vehicle (single micromobility crashes). This study analyzed 6030 single micromobility crashes that occurred in Spanish urban areas from 2016 to 2020. The Random Forest methodology was applied to create a classification model for the purpose of characterizing these crashes, predicting their injury severity, and identifying the primary influencing factors. To address the issue of imbalanced data, resulting from the relatively smaller dataset of fatal and seriously injured crashes compared to slightly injured ones, the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) was applied. The results indicate that certain behaviors, such as not wearing a helmet, riding for leisure, and instances of speeding violations, have the potential to increase injury severity. Additionally, crashes occurring at intersections or at cycle lanes with bad pavement conditions are likely to result in more severe outcomes. Furthermore, the concurrent presence of various other factors also contributes to an escalation in crash injury severity. These findings have the potential to provide valuable insights to authorities, assisting them in the decision-making process to enhance micromobility safety and thereby promoting the creation of more equitable and sustainable urban environments.

E-scooter attitudes and risk-taking behaviours: an international systematic literature review and survey responses in the West Midlands, United Kingdom

Introduction

Micromobility initiatives, including electric scooters (e-scooters), are part of the United Kingdom government's sustainability drive. Since summer 2020, multiple trials have been conducted across the United Kingdom. Safety concerns have been raised around e-scooters joining other vehicles on United Kingdom roads, alongside the numerous private e-scooters illegally ridden on public land. Although literature has been published abroad on perceptions, risk-taking behaviours and attitudes surrounding e-scooters, independent United Kingdom research has concentrated on analysing trauma. Our aim was to identify common themes and recommendations to form conclusions on factors affecting e-scooter trauma hospital admissions.

Methods

A systematic literature search in June 2023 extracted studies focused on the primary outcomes of risk factors, perceptions, and attitudes surrounding e-scooters globally from the EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Sciences databases. Two independent reviewers conducted a critical appraisal to extract potential biases and study characteristics. A critical appraisal skills programme (CASP) analysis was also completed. Two online surveys distributed in Birmingham and Wolverhampton focused on: public perception towards e-scooters, and road user attitudes around e-scooters. The target population was residents of the West Midlands who were both riders and non-riders of e-scooters. The surveys were opened in late-March 2023 and closed in late-July 2023.

Results

443 studies were retrieved with 13 studies being eligible according to our inclusion and exclusion criteria. CASP assessment concluded that the studies were of good quality, however heterogeneity meant sample sizes could not be meaningfully aggregated. Many studies focused on safety concerns whilst others observed risk-taking behaviour, non-rider perceptions, and infrastructure. Our surveys received 299 responses and respondents reported risk-taking behaviours such as pavement riding, alcohol consumption, and minimal helmet use. However, positive opinions were expressed on e-scooter convenience but concerns were raised regarding rider and non-rider safety.

Discussion

Whilst global literature had investigated e-scooter attitudes, risk-taking behaviours and perceptions, there was no comparable independent United Kingdom literature. Our literature review and analysis of survey responses concluded that e-scooters were perceived as a sustainable form of transport; however, safety concerns were raised. Our study points to risk-taking behaviours by riders being associated with admissions into hospital emergency departments. We conclude that well maintained infrastructure could improve the safety of both e-scooter riders and vulnerable pedestrians, whilst education and enforcement of clear rules may reduce risk-taking behaviour. The recommendations found in the PACTS reports, and documents from the RNIB confirm our findings. We recommend that hospital data and future studies should differentiate between private and rental e-scooters for robust conclusions to be made.

Electric personal mobility device driver behaviors, their antecedents and consequences: A narrative review

INTRODUCTION

Electric personal mobility devices (ePMDs), as well as crashes involving ePMDs, have been on the rise all over the world. The objectives of this study were: (a) to summarize the literature based on a narrow definition of ePMD (excluding e-bikes) and (b) to sort out the results to fit into a psychological and behavioral framework. The available literature was sorted into three main categories: the behaviors of ePMD drivers, their antecedents, and their consequences.

METHOD

A narrative review of the literature was carried out in 101 documents published between January 2018 and July 2021.

RESULTS

Regarding behavioral antecedents, regulations vary from country to country. ePMDs were found to be used primarily by males under 40 years of age. We found no studies on driving skills or learning, driver education or training, or on the effect of health messages on attitudes and behavior. Regarding the main behaviors themselves, the drivers' reasons for focusing on ePMDs were our main focus (use for short distances and mainly for commuting, shopping, and leisure). Few of the studies we reviewed explored the interactions between ePMD drivers and other road users in natural or simulated environments, and the influence of road infrastructure on behavior has rarely been studied. Regarding health consequences, reported ePMD crashes resulted in serious head and limb injuries, especially head and leg fractures. The lack of personal protective equipment (e.g., a helmet) increased the severity of crashes. The conclusion highlights gaps in the literature from a psychological and behavioral point of view.

Drunk or Sober? Number of alcohol units perceived to be safe before riding e-scooter

Riding an e-scooter under the influence of alcohol is one of the most frequently reported risky behaviours among riders in various countries, especially in the Nordic countries. What is the Number of Alcohol Units perceived to be Safe (NAUS) before riding an e-scooter? Who is more likely to report higher perceived alcohol tolerance before riding an e-scooter? What is the level of risk perception in this transport domain? The current study advances the literature by aiming to address these questions. Using a cross-sectional survey (n = 395) in Trondheim, Norway we developed an integrated model combining a path analysis with negative binomial regression to predict NAUS before riding an e-scooter. Results show that (i) around 56 % of participants reported that it is safe to consume one or more units of alcohol prior to riding an e-scooter, (ii) younger people, frequent users of e-scooters, individuals with low education, and people with lower perceived risks of an accident were more likely to report higher NAUS. Alcohol health warnings and random blood alcohol concentration tests on e-scooter sites could be prioritised among these segments of the population, and (iii) there is a rather high risk perception in this transport domain. We found that there are strong connections between higher risk perception, worry and fewer NAUS. Policymakers could highlight risks of accidents by e-scooters under the influence of alcohol.

Trauma Characteristics Associated with E-Scooter Accidents in Switzerland-A Case Series Study

E-scooters have gained popularity worldwide in the last few years. Due to the increase in users, more accidents related to e-scooters can be observed. The present study aimed to analyse epidemiological data, characteristics, and severity of injuries in patients admitted to a Level I trauma centre in Switzerland (Inselspital Bern, University Hospital Bern) after accidents associated with e-scooters. This retrospective case series evaluated 23 patients who presented to the University Hospital of Bern between 1 of May 2019 and 31 of October 2021 after an e-scooter accident. Data were collected on patient demographics, time and cause of the accident, speed, alcohol consumption, helmet use, type and localisation of injury, number of injuries per patient, and outcome. Men were most frequently affected (61.9%). The mean age was 35.8 (STD 14.8) years. Slightly more than half (52.2%) of all accidents were self-inflicted. Most accidents were reported during the night (7 p.m. to 7 a.m., 60.9%) and in summer (43.5%). Alcohol consumption was reported in 43.5% of cases, with a mean blood alcohol level of 1.4 g/l. Most injuries were observed in the face (25.3%) and head/neck area (20.25%). Skin abrasions (56.5%) and traumatic brain injury (43.5%) were the most common types of traumata in terms of total number of patients. Only in one case it was reported that a protective helmet had been worn. Five patients required hospitalisation and four patients underwent surgery. Three patients underwent emergency orthopaedic surgery, and one patient underwent emergency neurosurgery. E-scooter accidents result in a significant number of facial and head/neck injuries. E-scooter riders would potentially benefit from a helmet to protect them in the event of an accident. Additionally, the results of this study indicate that a significant number of e-scooter accidents in Switzerland occurred under the influence of alcohol. Prevention campaigns to raise awareness of the risks of driving e-scooters under the influence of alcohol could help prevent future accidents.

Web content mining analysis of e-scooter crash causes and implications in Germany

In Germany, police reports published via press are neither uniformly written nor accessible to the public. There is a lack of comprehensive and factual data-based analyses of e-scooter crashes and their causes. We collected 1936 crash-related reports over two years via the German press portal based on a systematic web content mining process. Sentiment analysis results revealed that the police reports' coverage is predominantly factual and neutral and, therefore, useful for keyword-based analyses. After identifying the 46 most relevant keywords in the reports, we generated an adjacency matrix to investigate the keywords' dependencies, visualized the network and dependencies of the most relevant keywords, and categorized them into four thematic clusters using the Louvain algorithm. Our results and findings reveal that driving under drug influence, especially alcohol, is one serious problem. Riding e-scooter in pairs and on forbidden terrain or in the wrong direction are also common causes of crashes. Consequences for e-scooter riders are severe injuries, driving license revocation, fines, criminal charges, and incurring for property damage. Further, wearing protective gear and helmets is of low acceptance among the e-scooter ridership. Based on our results and findings, we recommend e-scooter bans during the night times for some locations, obligatory driving tests before first e-scooter use, and helmet wearing.

Characteristics and Risk Factors for Electric Scooter-Related Crashes and Injury Crashes among Scooter Riders: A Two-Phase Survey Study

Electric scooters (or e-scooters) are among the most popular micromobility options that have experienced an enormous expansion in urban transportation systems across the world in recent years. Along with the increased usage of e-scooters, the increasing number of e-scooter-related injuries has also become an emerging global public health concern. However, little is known regarding the risk factors for e-scooter-related crashes and injury crashes. This study consisted of a two-phase survey questionnaire administered to a cohort of e-scooter riders (n = 210), which obtained exposure information on riders' demographics, riding behaviors (including infrastructure selection), helmet use, and other crash-related factors. The risk ratios of riders' self-reported involvement in an e-scooter-related crash (i.e., any crash versus no crash) and injury crash (i.e., injury crash versus non-injury crash) were estimated across exposure subcategories using the Negative Binomial regression approach. Males and frequent users of e-scooters were associated with an increased risk of e-scooter-related crashes of any type. For the e-scooter-related injury crashes, more frequently riding on bike lanes (i.e., greater than 25% of the time), either protected or unprotected, was identified as a protective factor. E-scooter-related injury crashes were more likely to occur among females, who reported riding on sidewalks and non-paved surfaces more frequently. The study may help inform public policy regarding e-scooter legislation and prioritize efforts to establish suitable road infrastructure for improved e-scooter riding safety.

E-scooters and the City – head to toe injuries

In the recent years electric scooters have become much more common. As the number of drivers increased, so did the number of accidents and injuries involving e-scooters. The most common are head and neck injuries, including open wounds of soft tissues, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), fractures of the skull bones, and intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH). The second most frequent are injuries to both upper and lower limbs. Fractures of the spine and injuries to the chest and abdominal cavity are less common. Many injuries could be avoided by using helmets, not driving e-scooters under the influence of intoxicating substances, and systematizing the rules of using e- scooters among other road traffic users.