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E-scooters are supposed to help with the traffic turnaround, but keep causing accidents
Photo: David Weyand / imago images
Seven people were killed in accidents with e-scooters in the first nine months of last year.
269 drivers of the battery-powered scooters were seriously injured, 1096 suffered minor injuries, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
In total, the police registered 1570 accidents with small electric vehicles between January and September, which resulted in deaths or injuries.
One value is alarming, warns Siegfried Brockmann, Head of Accident Research at Insurers (UDV): "In 21 percent of e-scooter accidents with personal injury, the victim is not the driver, but another road user." This value is only applicable to bicycle accidents at five percent, explains the accident researcher to SPIEGEL.
Scooter drivers often use the sidewalk
This is mainly due to the fact that scooter drivers often drive illegally on footpaths.
"One of our studies shows that almost 60 percent of the time people drive on the footpath, even though they should actually use the road or the bike path," says Brockmann.
However, many drivers are evidently unaware of this violation.
"According to a survey, 25 percent of drivers think they are allowed to drive on foot," complains the accident researcher.
He is therefore in favor of a Europe-wide awareness campaign to sensitize drivers in this country, but also tourists.
The frequency of accidents can only be compared to that of other means of transport to a limited extent.
"Unfortunately there is no movement data for the e-scooter," explains Brockmann.
One does not currently know how high the performance of the scooter is - this is crucial for comparisons.
"I therefore expect the providers to disclose this data," says Brockmann.
2020 difficult to compare year
At the same time, 2020 is an atypical year, explains the accident researcher.
Because of the corona pandemic, the providers have temporarily restricted or completely suspended their operations.
In addition, a large number of the tourists who otherwise often use the scooters were lost.
In addition, the electric standing scooters are a comparatively new phenomenon.
Scooter accidents have only been recorded separately since the beginning of 2020.
The e-scooters have been approved for road traffic in Germany since June 2019. The number of e-scooter accidents with personal injury rose in the spring and summer of last year: 252 were recorded between January and March and 417 between April and June The number was highest between July and September with 901 accidents: Four people were killed, 145 seriously and 627 slightly injured.
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ene / dpa