About 30 people in the United States have been killed riding electric scooters since 2018. Most—80 percent—were hit by cars.
Publicly available e-scooters arrived in US cities in 2017 as an energy-efficient and fun new way to get around town. By 2019, e-scooter rides had soared to 88 million trips annually. But putting e-scooter riders on the same roads as cars without good infrastructure or clear rules has been dangerous. Making streets safer will require that urban policymakers—not to mention drivers—understand where and why cars collide with these new vehicles.
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Christopher R. Cherry recently discussed in The Conversation an in-depth study on e-scooter traffic safety in Nashville conducted with his micromobility research team.
The findings of the study, published in April 2021 in the Journal of Safety Research, found that e-scooter crashes with cars follow different patterns than bicycle crashes—but both result from unsafe infrastructure for nonmotorized vehicles. Read the full article on The Conversation.
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CONTACT:
Lindsey Owen (865-974-6375, lowen8@utk.edu)