January 2023
Micro-Mobility for Europe (MMfE), the EU association of shared micro-mobility providers, is releasing the first-of-its-kind factsheet on incident data involving shared e-scooters in Europe.
Every safety incident is one of too many. By bringing transparency on the aggregated incident data of its six founding members (Bird, Bolt, Dott, Lime, Tier and Voi) in 2021, MMfE seeks to inform road safety policies that reduce incident risks for vulnerable road users, such as e-scooter riders, cyclists, pedestrians, in close collaboration with EU and local authorities.
Based on over 240 million shared e-scooter trips, accounting for over 461 million kilometers traveled, the collected incident data demonstrate that the overall risk of incidents requiring medical treatment is 60% lower than comparable data from 2019. In 2021, 5.1 injuries requiring medical treatment with shared e-scooters per million km were registered.
Moreover, fatality rates on shared e-scooters are twice as low as private e-scooters. Although, with the lack of a standardized incident framework in the EU, which MMfE calls for, shared e-scooter and private e-scooter incident data is most often combined in incident reporting.
Overall, MMfE observes a similar risk of fatal incident for shared e-scooters riders as for cyclists.
As motorized vehicles, in particular cars and trucks, remain the biggest source of road traffic fatalities in the EU, the industry association concludes with a set of recommendations to improve the safety of vulnerable road users:
- Investment in protected infrastructures
- Harmonise incident reporting standards in the EU
- Acknowledge e-scooter riders as vulnerable road users
- Encourage rules enforcement by local authorities
MMfE is committed to improve road safety and remains open to work with authorities and other actors to achieve this common goal.
Micro-Mobility for Europe (MMfE) is an association of shared micro-mobility providers such as e-bikes and e-scooters. Our members aim to transform urban mobility by creating a sustainable and safe transport ecosystem together with the cities in which they operate. Shared micro-mobility plays an important role in solving cities’ most persisting challenges: traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, by reducing car use and filling gaps in public transit networks.
