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Is anyone aware of an estimate of the number of miles ridden by PRIVATE e-scooters in 2021 and 2022. By comparison with cyclists, Gov data shows approx 100 pedal cyclists are killed annually for their estimate of approx 3.5 billion miles ridden, ie a death rate of 1 cyclist death per 35 million miles. Ref e-scooters, PACTS report 11 and 12 private e-scooter deaths in 2021 and 2022 respectively (now total 29 including 3 children), but a fatality rate cannot be determined without an assessment of the miles ridden. The DfT does not produce this figure because it relates to illegal activity. Please note – this relates to PRIVATE e-scooters, NOT rental trial e-scooters. Many thanks.
that’s a great question but I don’t know where anyone could collate this because no national travel surveys ask about illegal activity. I’m not aware of any monitoring of activity rate. by chance I came upon a cycle-under-HGV incident (miraculously the cyclist escaped) and stopped to help, and the WPC who was there shouted at a passing escooter rider passing to get off (he was on the road) – he shouted “well where am I supposed to ride then?” – seemingly unaware that the answer was ‘nowhere’!
once these are made legal as seems likely, the older illegal ones (not speed limited etc) will be hard to detect and remain an issue.
It doesn’t directly answer your question but this may help if you haven’t already read it.
I suspect that the biggest variability across different cities and countries is their provision for active travel.
What perplexes me are calls for e-scooters to be speed-limited whilst permitting motor vehicles to be speed unlimited. A massive elephant in the room.
agree Rod this is a fundamental inconsistency. e-scooter speed limit mainly benefits the rider, and to a lesser extent others around them, whereas failure to implement full-control ISA – which interestingly the vehicle tech expert Richard Cuerden of TRL opposed – would mainly benefit people outside the vehicle (50% of KSI being vulnerable users outside cars/goods vehicles etc i.e ped/cycle/PTW)
Ref e-scooter speed limiting. If they could be limited to roads, you may have a point. But the truth is that private e-scooters are ridden on pavements, pedestrian crossings and pedestrian precincts, universally and with impunity. Why? Because many find the roads too dangerous. That is exactly how the majority will be ridden when legalised, especially if the Gov permits 16 year old “children”, or even 14 year olds to align with e-bikes.
Of course, the Gov would also permit them on cycle paths shared with walkers, children, cyclists, horse, mobility scooters etc. How fast should a 30kg+ e-scooter (+one rider, perhaps 2 illegally!) to be able to travel on a shared cycle path? On 2 June 2022, in Rainworth, a 14 year old e-scooter rider killed a 71 year old pedestrian on the pavement, presumed at no faster than 25km/hr. And then there is the question of small wheels versus potholes and surface irregularities. The very first e-scooter fatality was caused by the rider deflected into the path of a lorry by an uneven inspection hatch in the road. At least one other was killed by being deflected by an uneven pavement into a fence…all at 15mph.
Of the 29 e-scooter riders killed since the first in 2019 (including 3 children), all in England&Wales only, 48% (14) involved no other vehicle; they lost control, fell or hit static objects eg parked cars, a tree, a lamp post, a fence etc. How many more deaths would there be at 20mph or 30mph on such unstable machines, and without mandated helmets!?
Data available at PACTS. https://www.pacts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/E-scooter-casualty-data-for-the-UK-fatalities.pdf
It may help for the forum to be given a dedicated “E-scooter” category under “Road Users”. This topic will expand as the Gov works towards its public consultation on legalising e-scooters.Just a quick addition to Rod King’s reference, and is a warning we must scrutinise all data even that which has an official title. The linked report refers to an assessment by OECD’s International Travel Forum (ITF)’s Corporate Partnership Board. In their report “Safe Microbility”, they make such statements as “There is no difference in the risk of rider fatality per trip between e-scooters and bicycles”. This is evidently rubbish, but is explained by 2 things.
1. A disclaimer for the OECD/ITF report “Safe Microbility” states : “Funding for this work has been provided by the ITF Corporate Partnership Board. This report is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the ITF. It has not been subject to the scrutiny of ITF or OECD member countries and does not necessarily reflect their official views or those of the members of the Corporate Partnership Board”.
2. The members of the OECD/ITF’s Corporate Partnership Board include Bird – the e-scooter company!
Enough said?That’s quite a “slur” there Peter. I couldn’t find Bird listed in the members of the Corporate Partnership Board, but I could find a wide range of members from the auto and transport industry.
Your complaint really does seem rather obscure and based on just trying to taint a report that you don’t agree with.
Enough said?
Rod
Rod
Its not a slur, its called scrutiny. And it is your interpretation that I “dont agree with it”. The article you linked referred to the the following OECD/ITF CPB report, which has already been well scrutinised on line. If you read page 3 carefully you will find Bird listed alphabetically, and the disclaimer I quoted verbatim previously – which actually means the OECD/ITF has not checked it, nor approved it. https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/safe-micromobility_1.pdf
I suggest you don’t get perplexed on limiting e-scooter speed. That elephant left the room long ago. There are numerous precedents. The law requires limiters on mobility scooters to 8mph (Class3) for the road and 4mph (Class2) on pavements. The law requires the power assistance on e-bikes (EAPCs) to cut out at 25km/hr – hence the rental trial e-scooter limit, both for very good reasons. Indeed, a mobility scooter lobby raised a rather hopeful Parliamentary Petition to increase the mobility scooter speed to 25km/hr when they saw the Gov permitting rental e-scooters at 25km/hr on cycle paths. Mopeds by definition , also have design max speed limits under the law – 28mph for example.
Besides, if the Gov does legislate for private e-scooters it WILL require them to be tamper-proofed limited to no more than 25km/hr, perhaps less – you can bet your pension on it. Why? Well, apart from most other countries limiting them to that EU-wide speed, and the DfT only has evidence from UK rental trials up to 25km/hr, it is one of the few factors the Gov can legislated for. For example, they are unlikely to require a driving licence, registration, MOT, training, insurance etc any more than they would for pedal cycles. Indeed, it is the DfT’s published aim to legislate for e-scooters “as close as possible to pedal cycles and EAPCs”….not motorcyles. So the Gov’s main, or indeed only, effective control will be regulatory approved design eg max weight, max continuous power, min wheel size, lights etc etc and tamper-proof speed limiters (as indeed the DfT has specified for rental trial e-scooters).Peter
I am absolutely NOT perplexed on limiting e-scooter speed. The “elephant” is not the limiting of e-scooters, but the not limiting of motor vehicles.
Best wishes
Rod
Rod
Well that explains everything. I would tend to agree that high performance private vehicles should have some speed limiters, the question would be….. at what speed? And would we also limit acceleration? It could not be 70mph as that would result in all cars travelling the same speed on dual-carriageways and motorways for example; we might as well get the train. Indeed, with autonomous electric cars on the horizon the likelihood of cars being electronically linked into a “train” is a real possibility, whether that be by automatic distance keeping or indeed the cars communicating with each other. I fear motoring is going to become merely perfunctory in the future.
If there’s anything you wish clarifying on e-scooters let me know. I have extensive internet research, particularly fatalities in UK and abroad.BIAS WARNING
Subject: RoSPA UK E-scooter Safety Report April 2022. RoSPA’s analysis of e-scooter risk of injury and death in this report is highly suspect. I am writing this because I have asked RoSPA to clarify their analysis several times since May 2022, yet they refuse to identify the source accident data upon which their conclusions depend. So, I challenge RoSPA to respond.RoSPA claim “E-scooters are safer than many other travel modes, with significantly lower casualty rates (0.66 collisions per million miles travelled) compared to bicycles which were 5 times more likely to be
involved in a collision (3.33 per million miles)”.
However, nowhere in their report do they state their estimated mileage of e-scooters or how they might have derived the figure. It appears they use Neuron’s rental trial data, and apply that to all e-scooters, which is a blatant misrepresentation. Moreover, the report is riddled with references to “e-scooters” without distinguishing between rental trials and privately owned e-scooters. In fact, there is NO data on the mileage covered by private e-scooters because the DfT do not collect data on illegal activity. Similarly, the DfT has NOT facilitated e-scooter accident recording on STATS19 forms.
And why has RoSPA partnered with one specific rental e-scooter provider (Neuron) of the many out there? Shouldn’t RoSPA be independent and offering advice to all providers?
Finally, it is worth reading RoSPA’s May2020 response to the Transport Cttee’s call for evidence ahead of the DfT’s rental trials, regarding the wearing of helmets.
1.“RoSPA would not call for the mandatory use of safety equipment, such as helmets, by electric scooter users. This is because it is not clear whether such a law would discourage some people from using electric scooters”
. Irresponsible! In most other aspects of life, reputable safety agencies would demand simple, cheap safety equipment (eg cycle helmets) for PUBLIC TRIALS of untested, new motor vehicles, known to be problematic in other countries. But not RoSPA. Their main concern is not to deter people from having a go.
2.“RoSPA’s position is that we strongly recommend that electric scooter riders wear a helmet. However, it is important to remember that helmets do not prevent crashes from happening.”
Incredible! Here is RoSPA sticking to their literal title. It beggars belief that RosPA should make such a crass statement. So, their focus is solely on preventing accidents, and not on reducing their consequences. They discount any consideration that cycle helmets reduce the severity of head injury and especially death from head trauma, the most common cause of death for cyclists. It would seem RoSPA needs a lesson on risk assessment 101. Risk = probability of an accident x consequences of the accident. So, perhaps RoSPA should rename themselves Royal Society for the Reduction of Risk of Accidents.
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