E-scooter rental trial: Safety

Summary

• Trial users have felt most safe using the trial in a cycle lane separated from the road, with 91% feeling safe or very safe using rental e-scooters here
• Over a third of trial users have felt unsafe or very unsafe using the trial on the road with no cycle or bus lane (35%)
• Of the respondents who selected ‘other’, 42% feel safer using rental e-scooters on quieter roads, and 8% each feel safe using rental e-scooters on pavements and in parks
• Respondents feel most safe sharing a separated cycle lane with people using e-scooters, with 85% of users and 29% of non-users feeling safe or very safe here
• Both users and non-users feel least safe sharing space with e-scooter riders on roads with no cycle or bus lane, with 31% of users and 82% of non-users feeling unsafe or very unsafe
• Around half of respondents who selected ‘other’ feel that sharing space with people riding e-scooters is dangerous / inconvenient on both pavements (54%) and on the roads (48%)
• An asterisk (*) indicates a small base size, caution should be taken when interpreting the results

Base: Trial users – from top to bottom (589) | (590) | (589) | (589) | (594) 

This chart shows where trial users have felt safe riding rental e-scooters.
In a cycle lane separated from the road, 63% of trial users have felt very safe riding rental e-scooters, 28% have felt safe, 4% have felt neither safe nor unsafe, 2% have felt unsafe, and 3% have felt very unsafe
On a shared-use pavement for both pedestrians and cyclists, 41% of trial users have felt very safe riding rental e-scooters, 38% have felt safe, 9% have felt neither safe nor unsafe, 7% have felt unsafe, and 6% have felt very unsafe.
On the road with a marked cycle lane, 38% of trial users have felt very safe riding rental e-scooters, 46% have felt safe, 7% have felt neither safe nor unsafe, 5% have felt unsafe, and 5% have felt very unsafe.
In a bus lane, 27% of trial users have felt very safe riding rental e-scooters, 36% have felt safe, 18% have felt neither safe nor unsafe, 11% have felt unsafe, and 8% have felt very unsafe.
On the road with no cycle or bus lane, 12% of trial users have felt very safe riding rental e-scooters, 31% have felt safe, 21% have felt neither safe nor unsafe, 21% have felt unsafe, and 14% have felt very unsafe.

This table shows where respondents who selected ‘other’ have felt safe riding rental e-scooters. 42% felt safe riding rental e-scooters on quieter roads, 8% felt safe on pavements, 8% felt safe in parks and 42% felt safe in other locations.

On a cycle lane separated from the road how safe did you feel?

Base: Trial Users (537) | Non-users (2273)

This chart shows where all respondents feel safe sharing space with people using e-scooters, broken down by trial users and non-users. In a cycle lane separated from the road, 52% of trial users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders, 33% feel safe, 9% feel neither safe or unsafe, 3% feel unsafe, and 4% feel very safe. 8% of non-users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders in a cycle lane separated from the road, 21% feel safe, 23% feel neither safe or unsafe, 19% feel unsafe, and 29% feel very unsafe.

On the road with a marked cycle lane how safe did you feel?

Base: Trial Users (539) | Non-users (2285)

This chart shows where all respondents feel safe sharing space with people using e-scooters, broken down by trial users and non-users. On the road with a marked cycle lane, 33% of trial users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders, 45% feel safe, 13% feel neither safe or unsafe, 3% feel unsafe, and 5% feel very unsafe. 4% of non-users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders on the road with a marked cycle lane, 15% feel safe, 21% feel neither safe or unsafe, 25% feel unsafe, and 36% feel very unsafe.

On a shared-use pavement for both pedestrians and cyclists

Base: Trial Users (537) | Non-users (2314)

This chart shows where all respondents feel safe sharing space with people using e-scooters, broken down by trial users and non-users. On a shared-use pavement for both pedestrians and cyclists, 30% of trial users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders, 38% feel safe, 18% feel neither safe or unsafe, 8% feel unsafe, and 7% feel very unsafe. 2% of non-users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders on a shared-use pavement for both pedestrians and cyclists, 6% feel safe, 9% feel neither safe or unsafe, 23% feel unsafe and 60% feel very unsafe.

In a bus lane

Base: Trial Users (536) | Non-users (2261)

This chart shows where all respondents feel safe sharing space with people using e-scooters, broken down by trial users and non-users. In a bus lane, 28% of trial users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders, 35% feel safe, 22% feel neither safe or unsafe, 9% feel unsafe, and 7% feel very unsafe. 3% of non-users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders in a bus lane, 13% feel safe, 24% feel neither safe or unsafe, 21% feel unsafe and 39% feel very unsafe.

On the road with no cycle or bus lane

Base: Trial Users (538) | Non-users (2292)

This chart shows where all respondents feel safe sharing space with people using e-scooters, broken down by trial users and non-users. On the road with no cycle or bus lane, 17% of trial users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders, 30% feel safe, 23% feel neither safe or unsafe, 19% feel unsafe, and 12% feel very unsafe. 1% of non-users feel very safe sharing space with e-scooter riders on the road with no cycle or bus lane, 6% feel safe, 10% feel neither safe or unsafe, 23% feel unsafe and 59% feel very unsafe.

This table shows the comment themes for those who selected ‘other’. 54% said the e-scooters were dangerous and inconvenient on pavements and footpaths, 48% said they were dangerous and inconvenient on roads, 34% said there was misuse by users and no policing of this, 24% said they were dangerous and inconvenient in public spaces, and 13% fell into an other category.