One of the latest means of transport that has been attached to the cities is an electrical kick bike. Some believe that they are destroying the cityscape while others believe that they are a welcome element in the mobility segment. Whatever you think, they are involved in a lot of accidents.
The accidents can to a large extent be derived from the behavior of the drivers, which is considered strange.
It writes Chalmers in a press release.
– In working with road safety, it is important to understand that electrical kick bikes not only meet mobility needs in cities, but also used for pleasure. Unfortunately, it is clear that in some cases this type of entertainment driving causes dangerous behaviors that leads to tangible accident risks, says Marco Dozza, professor of active security and road behavior at Chalmers and one of the authors behind a recently published study.
The first one of its kind
The study is the first of its kind and examines the risk factors and causes of accidents with electrical kick bikes in an urban environment.
The result shows that a clear majority of electrical kick cyclists do not behave riskyly. That being said, the study focused on security -critical events that occurred.
Using advanced technology and cameras that were attached to the vehicles in question, data from almost 7,000 trips could be collected. It is specifically about rented electrical kick bikes.
In turn, the researchers were able to identify 61 security-critical events, including 19 accidents and 42 so-called near-eye events.
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A conscious risk situation
Something that the researchers quickly became aware of was a behavior that deviates from other vehicle types. In 20 percent of the safety -critical events, it was the driver himself who consciously created a risk situation or crash.
As the incidents were intentional, they were not included in the analysis for accident risks Marco Dozza believes that the behavior is problematic.
– This behavior seems to be specific to electrical kick bikes. There is no ownership because the electrical kick bikes HYS can make the driver not feel the same responsibility for the vehicle and care less about the consequences in the event of a crash.
An odd behavior
In other words, it is primarily the driver’s behavior that underlies the accidents, not the electrical kick cycle itself.
– There are significantly more different, strange and traffic -hazardous behaviors of electricity park cyclists compared to other road users, he says.
Different behaviors increase the risk of accidents very much. For example, the study shows that driving with one hand increases the risk of accident sexfold. Going in a group or using the mobile during travel triples the risk of an accident.
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Many incidents with cars
20 percent of the analyzed incidents involved other electrical kick bikes, 16 percent pedestrians and 5 percent cycles.
Most critical events occurred with cars, 30 percent to be exact. In the event of a car crash, the risk of damage is high as unprotected road user.
– After bicycles and electrical kick bikes should drive on bike lanes, I had more incidents with bicycles. The fact that so many cars are involved indicates that many incidents occur when the electrical kick bike is driven outside bike lanes, or when there are no bike lanes available. The risk of accidents is greatest at intersections and my view is that it can be difficult for motorists to see the electrical kick cyclists in time, especially if they do not drive on a bike lane, explains Marco Dozza.