March 2021
In Germany, the Personal Light Electric Vehicles Act, effective June, 2019, enables to operate e-scooters (20 km/h limit) on public roads. While a full year federal accident report is waiting for giving us figures and details, on what the accident characteristics may be, the Allianz Center for Technology run a pilot, screening all 2020 police road traffic control and enforcement measurements, as given by police press releases.
The article will be published in the journal Verkehrsunfall und Fahrzeugtechnik 03/2021.
In the meantime, the German Federal Statistical Office has published figures. The AZT has commented on the latest official data.
Jörg Kubitzki, Road Safety Expert, from the Allianz Center for Technology states: „I am not convinced of the German Federal Statistic Bureau’s comparison of e-scooter accident figures to bicycle figures, as there are quite highly different mileage exposures between them. It is more wise to compare e-scooters with light motorized cycles classes, since both are under mandatory insurance coverage here. In here, 386 severely injured scooter-riders make 14 percentages of all, severely injured scooter-riders and light motorized cycle-riders (386 plus 2311). As to all death: 9 percentages, and as to all casualties (fatalities plus severely- plus slightly injureds): 16 percentages.”
Furthermore, Jörg Kubitzki comments: „The high portion of single accident cases in e-scooter, found by the German Federal Statistic Bureau, is in line with our Allianz Zentrum für Technik (AZT) prognosis, we calculated here. This are often on road falls, so we urgently advise every e-scooter driver to wear helmet, when driving e-scooter. With our AZT analyses, beside alcohol also drug influenced driving plays a major role in e-scooter use in general, especially in young people.”