Electric Scooters in Urban Environments: A Study of Safety, Infrastructure and Mobility Dynamics

Project Name: Electric Scooters in Urban Environments: A Study of Safety, Infrastructure and Mobility Dynamics

Project client: ARIS Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Research and Innovation

Time frame: 1. 2. 2025 – 31. 1. 2028

Project coordinator: UM Faculty of Logistics

Participating organizations: University of Maribor, Faculty of Security Sciences, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport Sciences

 

Brief summary of the project:

Electric scooters are an important and evolving technology that is increasingly popular in urban areas as a means of private and shared mobility. The introduction of e-scooters into urban mobility represents one of the solutions for balancing sustainable mobility and mobility needs. However, urban mobility is limited to some extent, especially in cities with road infrastructure that was developed based on the traffic and mobility needs of past decades and centuries. As there is currently no urban infrastructure designed exclusively for e-skiroes, and due to the rapidly growing use of this type of transport, there are concerns regarding the safe integration of e-skiroes into urban mobility, especially as there are many possibilities for e-skiroes to collide with other participants in the system. In addition, there is a lack of understanding of how the elements of the infrastructure and the attitude of other participants towards e-bikes and their users affect the level of security in mobility. However, if they are to be promoted and transformed into a widely applicable modality, an in-depth analysis of all aspects of their use must be carried out as soon as possible, so that the cycle of unregulated or under-regulated use can be broken and they can be integrated into urban mobility systems with evidence-based argumentation, and with deliberate procedures. Current practice shows that their use is increasing, and with it the problems they bring to urban mobility systems.