The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) has received further funding to assess private e-scooter safety and understand casualty data.
An additional grant of £17,000 from the Road Safety Trust will be used to investigate the extent of under-reporting of e-scooter casualties and ways in which this could be improved. The project will also critique the Department for Transport’s (DfT) evaluation report of the e-scooter trial rental schemes and respond to the UK Government’s proposed Transport Bill.
“PACTS will use this money to assess how thoroughly the government has considered safety, particularly the safety of private e-scooter use, and the impacts on other road users,” PACTS Executive Director David Davies told Zag Daily. “We will be working with the trauma surgeons to see if hospital records are reflected in the police casualty reports.”
This funding follows on from a grant in 2020 for work to investigate the safety of private e-scooters which provided recommendations to address safety concerns.
“During 2021 we published monthly updates on casualties involving e-scooters,” said Davies. “PACTS research was helpful to the police and Department for Transport which eventually recorded 1,438 casualties, including 10 deaths. PACTS recorded 13 deaths in the same period.”
Earlier this year the UK government announced that it will be creating a new zero-emission vehicle category for e-scooters.
Sonya Hurt, CEO of The Road Safety Trust, said: “The results from the initially funded e-scooter project highlighted real concerns with the future use of private e-scooters and this guidance is an essential piece of work. Our aim, with the additional funding, is to help inform Government legislation and ensure that both the riders of e-scooters and those around them remain safe.”
