Electric bikes and scooters are changing the face of our cities. These forms of green micromobility are increasingly widespread throughout the world, including Italy. And while they certainly contribute to making city traffic more sustainable and improving air quality in urban areas, they are not without critical issues: from the wild abandonment of electric bikes and scooters from sharing apps seen in cities like Rome or Milan, to the problem of accidents. A new study by the University of California in San Francisco has analyzed, for example, the situation in the United States, revealing a surge in accidents involving electric bicycles and scooters between 2017 and 2022.
Research
The study was conducted using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, a database maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that collects detailed information on all crashes involving commercial vehicles from 1978 to the present. Looking at the most recent data, collected between 2017 and 2022, the researchers compared e-bikes and scooters to their traditional counterparts, noting the number of crashes they were involved in, the demographics of the riders, and the type of injury reported.
The data reveal that in the period examined, accidents involving electric vehicles increased dramatically: doubled every year in the case of electric bicycles, going from 751 accidents in 2017 to over 23 thousand in 2022, and increased by 45% per year in that of electric scooters, reaching over 56 thousand in 2022. Accidents involving traditional bicycles and scooters, on the other hand, remained more or less stable in the five-year period analyzed.
Who gets hurt on electric vehicles?
Looking at the available information, e-bike and e-scooter riders involved in accidents were on average older than those of traditional vehicles. They were also more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as driving after consuming alcohol or driving without wearing helmets and protection. It was also more common for e-vehicle riders and their victims to report injuries to internal organs as a result of the accident, while in the case of traditional vehicles the most common injury was to the upper limbs.
The study obviously photographs the American situation, but if you look closely, the situation in our country is quite similar. In fact, for years the growing diffusion of electric scooters, bicycles and scooters has been causing a parallel increase in accidents involving them. According to Istat data, in 2023 in Italy there were 3,365 accidents involving electric scooters, up from 2,929 in 2022, while there were 21 deaths, also in this case up from the 16 of the previous year. Bicycles and electric bicycles also saw an increase in the number of victims, reaching 212, up 3.4% from the previous year.
“As micromobility becomes more and more part of our daily lives, it is becoming increasingly critical to also respond to the safety challenges it poses,” said Benjamin N. Breyer, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco who led the research. “To do so, it will be important to adapt the landscape of our cities to the needs of electric vehicles, but at the same time, to foster a culture of safety among drivers. Only then will we be able to reap the full benefits that micromobility promises, in terms of sustainability, health and the urban environment.”