Reflecting on the historic pioneering approaches of TRL
Recent years have seen an enormous proliferation in the use of electric scooters (e-scooters) on UK roads. Whilst in some geographic areas these have been monitored and controlled as part of designated trials, there has also been widespread unregulated use. With this increase, both as part of public hire schemes and of privately owned devices, comes an increase in collisions involving these devices and their riders.
The dynamics of e-scooter collisions differ from incidents involving more established transportation methods, both in terms of the mechanisms of impact and injury, and in the capabilities of the vehicles themselves. Both of these considerations must be taken into account as part of a reconstruction, however the information currently available is scarce and varies in quality.
Our experts have therefore carried out research into the characteristics of a wide range e-scooter devices which are of relevance to a collision reconstruction, and which can vary widely between models. Our research has included physical testing of the acceleration, deceleration, speed and handling characteristics of the devices currently in use under private ownership. The full report and dataset is available here. This work provides a detailed dataset which can be referred to in cases where devices are not available for inspection. Testing data can be combined with traditional reconstruction methods such as scene inspections, CCTV analysis, and damage assessments as part of a wider reconstruction of a collision.
As a result of the research and testing we have undertaken, our experts have a high level of experience and knowledge in relation to e-scooter handling and collisions, making us uniquely placed in such a new and evolving field.
Device and rider with an accelerometer mounted on the footplate for testing acceleration and deceleration
Radar gun for measuring speed of e-scooters at the TRL test facility
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