The safety of private e-scooters in the UK - PACTS
In England, government regulated rental e-scooter trials started in July 2020 and have now been extended to May 2024. About 25,000 are in use. Simultaneously, up to a million private e-scooters are being used illegally on public roads in the UK. Casualty numbers have been rising, with 23 deaths to mid-July 2022, 12 in 2021. In the absence of Government assessment, PACTS has published real-time casualty data, researched the safety of e-scooter construction and use and recommended a way forward.
Working with partners from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and fields of expertise, PACTS set out to achieve three objectives: • to collect data on e-scooter collisions in the UK and make this widely, publicly available with monthly updates; • to gather information on the safety of private e-scooter use in the UK; and, • to compile information and recommendations for construction and use regulations.
Its unique role was to assess the safety of private e-scooters, which (despite the scale) was not part of the monitoring of the (legal) rental e-scooters, commissioned by the DfT.
The aim was to present outcomes through reports and an interactive webinar with wider dissemination through briefings to Parliamentarians and the media.The overall project aim is to influence future legislation and regulations for e-scooters so that safety is fully addressed.