Source: Eltis, J. Tewson

Micro-mobility for Europe (MMfE), the EU association for shared micromobility providers, has released a first-of-its-kind factsheet on incident data.

The factsheet (accessible here) combines incident data from the association’s six founding members: Bird, Bolt, Dott, Lime, Tier, and Voi. The association shared, “Our goal is to shed light on the debate around shared e-scooters safety by providing data in a transparent manner on the volume, severity of incidents, and their implications on the safety of road users. Ultimately, we hope these insights will help inform conversations and road safety policies in the EU that reduce incident risks for vulnerable road users, such as shared micro-mobility riders, and we are committed to continuing working closely with authorities to do so.“

Key findings, based on 240 million shared e-scooter trips:

• When comparing 2021 to 2019, the risk of incidents that require medical attention has reduced by 60%.
• In 2021, 5.1 injuries per million km travelled required medical assistance.
• Fatality rates on shared e-scooters are thought to be about half those of private e-scooters.
• Cyclists and shared e-scooter riders have a similar risk of fatal incidents. Shared e-scooter rider fatality risk is 20 times lower than that of moped riders.
• The fatality risk for shared e-scooter use is 0.015 per 1 million km ridden.

The factsheet makes a range of recommendations aimed at improving road safety for vulnerable users, including shared e-scooter riders. It is recommended that there is an investment in safe infrastructure; that e-scooter riders are acknowledged as vulnerable road users; that there is further enforcement of traffic rules by local authorities; and that incident reporting standards are harmonised across Europe.

View the MMfE factsheet in its entirety, here.