Active Transport Accident Levels — Is eMobility significant?
Media headlines warn us of the dangers of electric scooters every week. These articles rarely give context or comparisons. They are “clickbait” for readers, using a new disruptive form of transport to incite complaints. New Zealand’s unique Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) provides no-fault insurance for any accident, enabling analysis of all types of transport.
By Stephen Coulter & Krystyna Weston, Founders Zipidi Micromobility & Convenors of the Asia Pacific Micromobility Alliance
eScooters are relatively new and used for hundreds of millions of rides due to their fun, form factor and ease of use. Just as when automobiles were invented, and even bikes, progress brings protestors and uninformed opinions.
All forms of transport have accidents for multiple reasons:
- They are new, unexpected and not seen. People see what they expect — as transport becomes normalised, people see and expect new forms of transportation.
- Early devices are not as robust and don't have the safety and design features of later models — compare the T-Model Ford to a Tesla, compare the original 2016/17 ninebot scooter to the 2022 model. Compare the original Lime scooter to the new Gen 4.
- Riders are less experienced; accidents are more likely to occur for inexperienced riders.
Fortunately, NZs Accident Compensation Commission provides insurance for accidents of any type to anyone, enabling a more rational review of accidents and injuries across all types of active transport.
We arranged some specific data extracts to look at accidents by modes of transport typically not covered by compulsory third-party insurance around the world. While third-party will typically cover active transport users, it only does so when the accident is with a registered, insured motor vehicle.
Many accidents occur without a registered vehicle, leaving the injured exposed without any accident insurance.
NZ is a good comparison for many countries — it has similar road rules, vehicle types, urban environments, demographic profiles and regulatory environments. For Australia, the UK, Ireland, Canada and other similar environments, we suspect the accident and injury trends to be similar, albeit on different scales. NZ has a population of around 5.5 million if you wish to scale these numbers for your country.
Active Transport Accident Injury Rates in NZ
We have time-series data from 2017 to July 2022 by ten modes of transport, including eScooters, eBikes and even roller skates! The 6-year history also allows trends to be seen, especially on new forms like eScooters, where one might expect more significant injuries early, moderating over time.
Based on year-to-date data for 2022, the top 5 active transport types for insured accident claims are:
- Cycling (pedal bikes) 49.7%
- Walking/Pedestrians 16.3%
- Kick Scooters 11.5%
- Skateboards 11.1%
- eScooters 4.2%
This is based on 35,440 new claims lodged so far in 2022. Other forms of transport following eScooters were Roller Skates 3.2%, eBikes 2.9%, Mobility Scooters 0.7%, Mopeds 0.4% and Segways 0.0%.
Based on NZ’s population of 5.5 million and full-year 2021 data, the incidence rate for active transport claims is:
- 1.38% of the population has an active transport claim per year
- 0.04% having an eScooter accident claim.
NZ was a new market for eScooters in 2017 and a mature market by 2022. While accident numbers have grown 637% over six years, the number of rides and vehicle kilometres travelled have increased by more. We are seeking out the number of rental and OYO scooters in 2017 compared to 2022 to supplement this analysis.
- Over the same period, eBike accidents have grown by 758% and Walking/Pedestrian Accidents by 470%!
Average Insurance Claim by Active Mobility Mode
In 2021, ACC active transport claims exceeded pre-COVID levels with total new claims of NZ$ 166,711,677. The top 5 modes for total claims were:
- Cycling (pedal bikes) $82.9m, 49.7%
- Walking/Pedestrians $44.1m 26.4%
- Skateboards $15.8m,9.5%
- eScooters $8.2m, 4.9%
- Kick Scooters $6.9m, 4.1%
The summary claims information for all modes is below:
It is interesting to look at claims costs over time to see emerging trends. While cycling represents almost 50% of claims, the average claim rates are 6th at $2,000 in 2021. Since 2017 it has generally been around $1,650 to $1,700 and is back at $1,679 YTD for 2022. In core COVID years 2020 and 2021, it was higher —we are not sure if there is a link or if this is purely a coincidence.
Pedestrian claims are trending down, from $7,775 in 2017 to $2,875 YTD in 2022. We understand these are typically trips on footpaths not involving anyone else.
eScooter claims are similar to Pedestrians, with YTD 2022 claims averaging $2,371. This is down significantly from 2017, when the average was $4,097. This may also be due to the latest model scooters being safer and accidents less severe.
The time series of average claims are below:
The ACC data provides a good context for different forms of transport and the relative scale of accidents and their costs. We will be writing future articles digging further into the data and analysing by mode of transportation:
- Injury severity
- Injury type
- Areas of the body where injuries occur
- Accident rates by gender and age range
The ACC is a unique organisation. Quality data across all active transport modes provides a much better perspective and context than recent articles and opinions based on a single mode without comparisons.
