This session comprised four presentations covering dash cams, e-scooters and the dangers of distractions.
Dr Helen Wells, Keele University, looked at the challenges and opportunities of ‘Dash Cam’ submissions for road safety and roads policing.
~There has been an increase in submissions of ‘dash cam*’ footage to forces in last three or so years; technology more readily available.
What does the project hope to achieve?
Understand the opportunities and challenges, both for the relevant authorities and for the public
– Suggest some ‘best practice’ that is…
…acceptable to and legitimate for the public
…manageable and realistic for the authorities involved
…has (in our view) the best chance of producing safer roads and safer road users
– Look to the future and ‘horizon scan’ for the challenges and opportunities of the future
– Demonstrate the value of bringing academics on board!
The police perspective
– Initially a response to a new demand, reactive mode, “coping” with it, reluctance to publicise (discourage?) – “floodgates”, “swamped”, “overwhelmed”, “under-staffed”
National momentum – “dropped us in it”, “can’t be seen not to”
Initiative at the front line “we went to see how X were doing it”, “they had done the hard work”, “stealing with pride”
– Battle for resources within force
Chief officer hesitancy – “they weren’t interested”, “they were worried about getting deluged”
PCC pressure – “they stepped in”, “they were clear it was in their Plan”
– Challenges of staffing, data handling, data storage, the broader criminal justice context…
– Inconsistency in response (within and between forces)
Level and experience of staff
Location of unit/team
Experience of submitters – willing but not able to ‘feed back’, in some cases
– IRO 60% of submissions from cyclists
Managing expectations, not alienating ‘frequent flyers’
Taking the initiative to meet and agree a way forward
Lessons for media/communications
What’s next?
Does it ‘work’?
Legal challenges?
More public involvement, or less?
Stop-gap?
Cameras in public and private sector fleets?
Streamlined submission processes for ‘capable guardians’?
Use of footage to capture, map, and learn from ‘near misses’?
Anthony Ferguson, DfT, talked about the government’s ongoing e-scooter trials.
E-scooter trials were launched in July 2020 in Middlesbrough and are currently live in 29 areas across England.
The trials will help us to better understand the benefits and wider impacts of e-scooters and help consider options for new regulations.
Trials have been extended to 31 May 2024, to allow us to gather further evidence where gaps are identified, building on the findings of the current evaluation.
Over 1.5 million active participants in the trials at the end of 2021 and over 27 million trips made up to September 2022.
User base
Current user base: e-scooter use is most likely among men and those aged 16-24.
Future user base: Males, younger age groups (16-24), and those living in urban areas are most likely to expect to purchase or hire an e-scooter in the future.
People from an ethnic minority background are more likely than those from a white background to expect to purchase or hire an e-scooter in the future.
Among people planning to buy or rent an e-scooter, the main reason for use would be to reach a specific destination (e.g. work and homes of friends/family), followed by for recreation.
A majority of people who thought they would buy or hire an e-scooter anticipated that they would reduce or stop using at least one mode of transport in place of it.
Attitudes towards e-scooters
Most members of the public have heard of e-scooters but few report knowing a great deal about them.
This limited depth of knowledge is likely to influence how the public perceive e-scooters – those who report having a greater knowledge of e-scooters are more likely to associate a wider range of benefits with them.
Self-reported knowledge is generally higher in younger age groups and those living in urban areas compared to rural areas, particularly those in London.
When asked about the perceived disadvantages of e-scooters, members of the public are most likely to cite safety concerns, particularly in terms of risks to pedestrians.
According to a survey of drivers, ‘people riding e-scooters on the road’ was the joint 16th (out of 20) highest concern in 2022. This was equal to concern about ‘drivers under the influence of drugs’.
Safety
In 2021, there were 1,434 casualties in collisions involving e-scooters (private and rental), compared to 484 in 2020. Of all casualties in collisions involving e-scooters in 2021, 1,102 were e-scooter users, and 67 were pedestrians.
There are more male than female e-scooter user casualties, especially amongst those aged 10 – 39.
The three most common type of injuries involving e-scooters are of ‘slight’ severity (shallow cuts, bruising, sprains). However, the next three are fractures and head injuries which are of ‘serious’ severity.
Many non-fatal casualties are not reported to the police – the above should be interpreted with caution.
National evaluation of the e-scooter trials (2020-22)
- Mixed-methods impact evaluation examining how and why rental e-scooters are used, by whom, and safety, mode shift, environmental and wider social impacts. Drawing from a range of data sources, including:
- Trial operator data, covering 14.5 million rental trips
- A post-ride survey collecting evidence on mode shift, safety, and journey purpose at the end of rides
- A demographic survey of 190,000 users
- User and resident surveys over two waves. Includes representation of vulnerable groups.
- User and resident qualitative research (interviews, focus groups)
- National and local stakeholder interviews
Margaret Winchcomb, PACTS – should privately owned e-scooters be legalised?
Private e-scooters are legal to purchase in the UK, but are illegal to use in public places
Since July 2020, operator owned e-scooters have been available to legally use through regulated rental schemes in England.
The aims of PACTS project, funded by The Road Safety Trust, were to:
- Collate casualty data for the UK for 2021
- Gather evidence inform understanding of the safety of private e-scooters, and;
- Form recommendations for regulations for the safe construction and use of private e-scooters
Casualties
DfT reported road casualties recorded
- 484 e-scooter casualties in 2020
- 1,434 e-scooter casualties in 2021
- Under-reporting is substantial
In 2021, 250 patients were seen over one four-week period across 20 emergency departments in Great Britain
Government position on e-scooters
July 2020 – regulated rental e-scooter trials open
(private use is illegal on public roads and in public places)
May 2022 – plans are announced to “create a regulatory framework for smaller, lighter, zero-emission vehicles”
October 2022 – the regulation of e-scooters “is at the top of [the] list for the narrower future of transport Bill”
May 2024 – regulated rental e-scooter trials due to end
Conclusions
Despite being illegal to use, the popularity of private e-scooters continues to grow.
Data sources are maturing which increase the understanding how e-scooter casualties are injured and the severity of their injuries
The current situation in the UK is unsatisfactory and more needs to be done to improve safety for e-scooter riders and other road users
Shaun Miller from Acusensus talked about distraction, describing it as ‘the drink driving of our age’.
He said mobile phone use by drivers is a remarkably under researched field. Unfortunately, this is often used as an excuse to do nothing, people say “oh first we have to get the data”. We can’t afford to do this though, the status quo is not appropriate when people are needlessly dying.
Since the introduction of the New South Wales Mobile Phone Detection Camera Program to target driver distraction, there has been a decline in camera detected mobile phone offences, with the offending rate falling from 1 in 82 drivers during the pilot period in 2019 (1.2 per cent) to around 1 in 478 drivers by the end of October 2021 (0.21 per cent). A six-fold reduction in poor driver behaviour. Offence rates continue to decline.
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