Although there are no official records for this type of vehicle, between January and September of this year the press reports reflect a total of 224 accidents involving scooters and electric scooters, 44 of them serious and a total of 5 deaths whose ages are between 16 and 79 years.
According to recent data, facilitated by research led by researchers Silvia Barrero y Yelco Chicoteof October Twelve Hospital, there are a total of 198 elderly people, drivers of electric scooters, who attended the Emergency Service and the Trauma and Emergency Intensive Care Unit between January 2018 and January 2022. Of the total, 70% were men and 30%, women, with ages ranging between 18 and 62 years. The most frequent types of accidents for those admitted to said center were falls (77%), followed by being run over by another vehicle (14%), collision with another object (5%) and a blow caused by the structure of the car. scooter (4%). Within the group of patients with severe trauma, in 82% of cases, the most serious injury observed was head trauma and in the remaining 18%, severe abdominal trauma stood out.
speed and drugs
According to the study presented this Thursday by the Mapfre Foundation, it is particularly noteworthy that the reports of the fatal accidents reflect a worrying number of irregular circumstances or contrary to current regulations, such as that “two people were traveling on the electric scooter”, or that two of the deceased were 15-year-olds, or “went without a helmet at a speed between 40 and 50 km/h”, “was driving at night on the local road” or “crossed the patones crossing riding his electric scooter”. It also highlights the fact that, of the total news analyzed in the first half of this year, in a total of 33 information is collected on drivers of electric scooters who have tested positive for alcohol or drugs, as well as 17 on fires or explosions of scooter batteries.
Given these data, Fundación Mapfre experts warn of the importance of wearing a helmet, riding on bike lanes and zones 30 and not manipulating the speed controller to exceed the 25 km/h established by law. In the report presented by this entity, a preliminary analysis is made of the most effective actions, projects and functionalities in the field of road safety of Personal Mobility Vehicles (VMP), since this type of vehicle has experienced a considerable increase in last years.
According to Jesus Monclúsdirector of Prevention and Road Safety of Fundación Mapfre, the latest developments to improve the design of this type of vehicle are noteworthy, such as larger tires that offer greater capacity to absorb irregularities in the road, as well as side reflectors, front turn signals and rear, and a prototype helmet holder designed by the Mapfre Road Safety and Experimentation Center (CESVIMAP), which allows a helmet to be stored and reduce the severity of the impact in the event of a collision with another vehicle or a pedestrian being run over.
In this line, the research also highlights other innovative proposals, some of which have not yet reached Spain, and whose purpose is to prevent two people from using the same scooter, detect skidding and other unsafe behavior and send warning messages to the user. , and identify drivers who circulate in the wrong direction and on sidewalks, situations in which the scooter can beep, slow down and even stop.
Thus, the latest news published in the media related to accidents in which electric scooters are involved have been compiled, since official statistics on the accident rate of this type of personal vehicle are not yet available.
According to the report, in 2021, a total of 13 people lost their lives, 11 of them men, who were involved in an accident with an electric scooter and whose cause was a fall against the sidewalk and the curb (5), collision with other vehicles (5) and run over (3).
The Autonomous Communities in that period registered the most incidents with deaths were Catalonia (4) and Madrid (3). The people hit were elderly pedestrians: two women aged 78 and 79 and a man, also 79 years old.
Increase in deaths
These figures reflect a notable increase in the number of deaths in 2021 compared to the previous two years. In 2020, 6 people lost their lives and in 2019 there were 5 fatalities, “figures that are not acceptable and that represent a clear call to spread good practices and continue to improve, together, companies and drivers, safety with respect to this type of mobility.
In this sense Jesus Monclús highlights two other important aspects because “although the absolute number of deaths has increased, it is possible that accident rates have improved in recent years due to increased mobility, although we still do not have a record to prove it. We also do not know if the deceased used private or “sharing” scooters, something that should be corrected if the information collection and analysis systems on exposure and incidents in the new mobility were improved.
Virtual schools that give away free trips, online guides to find out about local regulations, selfies to check that the driver is wearing a helmet and apps that identify if the driver has consumed alcohol and that limit the speed on the first journeys. These are some examples of a long list of good practices that companies in the electric scooter rental sector, such as Voi, Bolt, Lime and Link, among others, have implemented to improve safety, encourage coexistence between drivers and pedestrians and reduce up to 26% injuries among users of these vehicles.
With these measures, the sector hopes that its customers use electric scooters responsibly, as well as being more aware of the importance of wearing a helmet, park in areas where they cause less inconvenience to other road users, and respect speed limits with initiatives that eliminate the pressure of the pay-per-minute system, among others.