Reported road casualties Great Britain: e-Scooter factsheet 2020
Published 30 September 2021
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This factsheet examines the main trends in collisions involving e-scooter and the casualties involved. Please note that we don’t distinguish between trial and privately owned e-scooters in this analysis.
E-scooters are one of the vulnerable user groups. They are not protected by a vehicle body in the same way car users are, and tend to be harder for drivers to see on the road. They are, therefore, particularly susceptible to injuries.
Data in this factsheet is for 2020 only. The figures are based on adjusting figures reported by the police for slight and serious injuries to take account of changes in the reporting of injury severity by some police forces in recent years. These adjusted figures can reliably be used to compare trends over time across the country. They are based on what we estimate the totals would be if all police forces were using injury-based severity reporting systems. More information on the change and adjustment process is available in the road safety statistics quality and methodology page.
Main points
In 2020:
- there were 460 accidents involving e-scooters.
- there were 484 casualties in accidents involving e-scooters, of these 384 were e-scooters users.
- of the 484 casualties 1 was killed. Our best estimate, after adjusting for changes in reporting by police, is that there were 128 seriously injured and 355 slightly injured.
Reported accidents and casualties involving e-scooters
Table 1 shows the number of reported road casualties in accidents involving e-scooters in Great Britain in 2020, by road user type. Excluding e-scooter casualties themselves the main other road users involved in accidents involving e-scooters are pedestrians and cyclists.
Table 1: Number of reported casualties in accidents involving e-scooters, by road user type, GB: 2020
| Road user type | Killed | Serious (Adjusted) | Slight (Adjusted) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-Scooter Users | 1 | 105 | 278 | 384 |
| Pedestrian | 0 | 13 | 44 | 57 |
| Pedal Cyclist | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| Car Occupant | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Motor Cyclist | 0 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Van Occupant | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Bus Occupant | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Other Vehicle Occupant | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 1 | 128 | 355 | 484 |
Source: DfT STATS19
Chart 1 shows the number of reported casualties in accidents involving e-scooters in 2020. There is an upward trend from April to December, with a large decline observed in November.
Chart 1: Reported casualties in accidents involving e-scooters by month, GB:2020
Chart 2 shows the number of reported e-scooter user casualties, by age and sex in Great Britain in 2020. There are more male e-scooter user casualties than female e-scooter user casualties, especially amongst those aged between 10 and 39.
Chart 2: Reported e-scooter user casualties, by sex and age, GB:2020
Note: cases where age and sex is unknown have been removed from chart 2
Chart 3 shows the number of reported casualties other than e-scooter users in accidents involving e-scooters by age in Great Britain in 2020. Over 50% of all casualties are aged between 30 and 59 years.
Chart 3: Reported casualties other than e-scooter user involved in e-scooter accidents, by age, GB, 2020
Note: cases where the age unknown have been removed from chart 3
Chart 4 shows the number of casualties involved in e-scooter accidents by time of the day in Great Britain, in 2020. There is an upward trend starting at 6am and ending at 3pm, followed by a downward trend from 3pm to 10pm.
Chart 4: Casualties in accidents involving e-scooters by time of the day, GB, 2020
Table 2 shows the number of reported accidents involving e-scooters by police force in Great Britain, in 2020. The Metropolitan police reported 60% of Great Britain accidents involving e-scooters, this compares to 21% of all accidents reported by the Metropolitan police.
Table 2: Reported casualties in accidents involving e-scooters by police force, GB, 2020
| Police force | Involving e-scooters | Involving e-scooters (% of GB) | Involving any vehicle | Involving any vehicle (% of GB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon and Somerset | 8 | 2% | 2,569 | 2% |
| Bedfordshire | 4 | 1% | 1,524 | 1% |
| Cambridgeshire | 3 | 1% | 1,682 | 1% |
| Cheshire | 2 | 0% | 1,699 | 1% |
| City of London | 5 | 1% | 115 | 0% |
| Cleveland | 0 | 0% | 767 | 1% |
| Cumbria | 1 | 0% | 949 | 1% |
| Derbyshire | 3 | 1% | 1,910 | 2% |
| Devon and Cornwall | 4 | 1% | 3,482 | 3% |
| Dorset | 10 | 2% | 1,479 | 1% |
| Durham | 0 | 0% | 812 | 1% |
| Dyfed-Powys | 0 | 0% | 991 | 1% |
| Essex | 10 | 2% | 3,345 | 3% |
| Gloucestershire | 2 | 0% | 903 | 1% |
| Greater Manchester | 0 | 0% | 3,218 | 3% |
| Gwent | 1 | 0% | 664 | 1% |
| Hampshire | 17 | 4% | 3,763 | 3% |
| Hertfordshire | 7 | 1% | 1,898 | 2% |
| Humberside | 2 | 0% | 2,140 | 2% |
| Kent | 11 | 2% | 4,513 | 4% |
| Lancashire | 3 | 1% | 3,213 | 3% |
| Leicestershire | 8 | 2% | 1,493 | 1% |
| Lincolnshire | 0 | 0% | 1,883 | 2% |
| Merseyside | 0 | 0% | 2,162 | 2% |
| Metropolitan Police | 291 | 60% | 24,246 | 21% |
| Norfolk | 2 | 0% | 1,763 | 2% |
| North Wales | 1 | 0% | 838 | 1% |
| North Yorkshire | 1 | 0% | 1,549 | 1% |
| Northamptonshire | 4 | 1% | 1,102 | 1% |
| Northumbria | 1 | 0% | 2,118 | 2% |
| Nottinghamshire | 6 | 1% | 2,098 | 2% |
| Police Scotland | 3 | 1% | 4,992 | 4% |
| South Wales | 5 | 1% | 1,213 | 1% |
| South Yorkshire | 5 | 1% | 2,644 | 2% |
| Staffordshire | 0 | 0% | 1,146 | 1% |
| Suffolk | 1 | 0% | 1,266 | 1% |
| Surrey | 7 | 1% | 2,909 | 3% |
| Sussex | 17 | 4% | 3,958 | 3% |
| Thames Valley | 18 | 4% | 3,472 | 3% |
| Warwickshire | 2 | 0% | 1,139 | 1% |
| West Mercia | 3 | 1% | 1,901 | 2% |
| West Midlands | 12 | 2% | 5,256 | 5% |
| West Yorkshire | 3 | 1% | 3,568 | 3% |
| Wiltshire | 1 | 0% | 1,232 | 1% |
| Total | 484 | 100% | 115,584 | 100% |
Source: DfT STATS19
The map shows accidents involving e-scooters by police force. Most accidents are located in Greater London.
Map of accidents involving e-scooters, by police force, GB, 2020
Background information
How e-scooters are recorded in STATS19
“E-scooters” are not one of the designated vehicle types collected in a STATS19 reportable accident, as such they would be classed as other vehicle and can only be identified using a free text field.
The “Other vehicle” category was introduced in 2011 to replace the previously collected vehicle types, other motor vehicle and other non-motor vehicle. A free text field was introduced at the same time to provide insight into what other vehicles were being recorded.
The description is mainly used by the department to assess whether new vehicle types need to be captured and to reclassify existing “Other vehicles” into one of the defined vehicle types. For example, even though mobility scooters have their own category, a number of these end up in the other category each year and are reclassified by DfT.
The free text field is not validated as designated vehicle type data, and therefore not as robust as published vehicle statistics. Therefore, using this text does require some investigation and validation. Unfortunately, the word scooter is not exclusive to one type of vehicle and depending on the context used, it could be used to describe a variety of vehicles including some motorcycles (those that have a step-through frame and a platform for the rider’s feet to rest on), mobility scooters and traditional stand on scooters. Stand on scooters can also have different methods of propulsion (petrol, electric or physical effort). Guidance has been issued to all forces to ensure they capture more than just the word ‘scooter’ in the free text description when recording this.
Caveats and limitations
At this point we are not yet able to fully assess the quality’ of the e-scooter data captured in STATS19, in terms of consistency of recording practice for e-scooters across different police force areas, so data should be treated with caution. In future, e-scooters will be better captured as part of a new ‘powered personal transporter’ category which will be introduced as part of the recent STATS19 review recommendations.
It should be noted that there might be a considerable percentage of non-fatal casualties that are not reported to the police. Non-fatal casualties for e-scooter users are amongst the most likely to be under-reported in road casualty data since they have no obligation to inform the police of collisions. This should be borne in mind when analysing and interpreting the data.
It is not possible to determine from STATS19 whether an e-scooter casualty was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. The collection of helmets being worn within the STATS19 reporting system is limited to bicycle use, which was introduced in 2011.
Currently it is not possible to calculate casualty rates (per mile travelled) for e-scooters as is done for other vehicle types, as there is a lack of data on distance travelled on e-scooters. Some data will become available via the National Travel Survey in future years.