Technology Profile |
Measuring the explosion
of e-scooters
Micromobility is an
increasing transportation
trend due to its ability to
cover first and last-mile trips in
large urban communities. This
poses a challenge to traffic
engineers and city planners
across North America and
Europe. Now, mobility plans,
infrastructure design, and other
traffic engineering projects need
to include the increasing
number of e-scooter riders
within cities.
While increasingly popular,
recent studies have shown that
e-scooters present a major safety
problem on city streets. A 2018
study by the Public Health and
Transportation departments in
Austin, Texas, in association
with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC),
found over a three-month
period, 20 individuals were
injured for every 100,000
e-scooter trips taken in Austin.
That’s about 13 times riskier
than biking and 100 times
than walking. Of those injuries,
nearly half involved head
injuries, with 15% being
traumatic brain injuries. Only
one in 190 injured riders was
wearing a helmet.
Limited data available
Cities everywhere are trying
to encourage compact, greener
modes of transportation to
address traffic congestion as
well as pollution and climate
change concerns. The challenge
is that without the right data to
understand how they fit into
existing traffic networks, cities
are unsure about the necessary
steps required to keep these
vulnerable road users safe.
The City of Atlanta has one
of the densest deployments
of e-scooters in the American
southeast, with more than 10,000
permitted. After suffering four
tragic e-scooter-related deaths,
a two-year, US$5 million plan
to bring new safety features
quickly to the streets of Atlanta
was announced. As part of the
plan, the City implemented
rapid safety refurbishment of
a 0.2-mile stretch of 10th street,
just west of Piedmont Park, by
installing temporary pop-up
protected lanes – to be used
by both bikes and e-scooters –
for one week in October 2019.
To measure its impact, the
Midtown Alliance – a non-profit
coalition of local leading
business and community leaders
– deployed Miovision Scout
along the pop-up protected
lane to collect data on how many
e-scooters, pedestrians, cyclists,
and vehicles used the roadway.
They specifically wanted to
gather accurate classification
and bi-directional counts on
e-scooters and cyclists using
the protected bike lanes.
Using video collected
by Scout, data processed by
Miovision, and reports provided
in DataLink, the Midtown
Alliance was able to show how
citizens were using the protected
070 Traffic Technology International March/April 2020
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
Left: Road side
deployment for
e-scooter count
Miovision is the only traffic
count vendor providing
e-scooter counts. This is
particularly important when trying to
prove the value of a protected bike lane
Forrest Rose, Midtown Alliance, Atlanta, Georgia
Being able to gather robust
datasets quickly and efficiently
through Miovision technology,
Midtown Alliance was able to
support the City of Atlanta in
making data-driven decisions,
instead of decisions based on
anecdotes, to effectively
advocate for safer streets, while
adapting to the changing needs
of their road users.
lane. This helped planners build
a case for permanent protected
infrastructure to help prevent
future tragedies, improving
road safety for all users.
One e-scooter counter
“Miovision is the only traffic
count vendor providing
e-scooter counts,” says Forrest
Rose of the Midtown Alliance,
“This is particularly important
when trying to prove the value
of a protected bike lane because
we now know, in addition to
traditional bike trips, shareable
mobility devices (shared bikes,
e-scooters, etc.) can make up
a considerable number of trips
on protected infrastructure.”
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