Accidents involving e-scooters have so far not appeared separately in the official accident statistics. This should change from January, said a spokesman for the Federal Statistical Office. At present one is still in contact with the interior ministries of the countries, which should send appropriate numbers to the office in Wiesbaden. If that works, you can record e-scooter accidents for the first time at the beginning of each year.
Especially in large cities, there have been numerous accidents since the introduction of e-scooters in the summer. Example Cologne: The police in the cathedral city had recently drawn an interim balance. Accordingly, there were 104 road accidents between June 15 and November 18 with 109 injured involving e-scooters. Twenty-four people suffered severe and 85 minor injuries. "89 of those injured were e-scooter drivers, and e-scooter riders caused 88 percent of those accidents," the police said. In just under a third of the accidents drivers were drunk.
Ice and snow as additional danger
So far, according to the Federal Office these e-scooter accidents only appear under the category "other vehicles". However, they are new types of transport that the statisticians wanted to identify individually. However, the problem here could be that the state police authorities use different databases. However, if the authorities collect e-scooter accidents individually on the computer, this is possible. In the interior ministries one works on it. An appropriate collection would be prepared, said a spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalian ministry.
The statistics could also provide interesting results for this reason: with wet leaves and snow in autumn and winter, the vehicles with their small tires and weak brakes can be particularly dangerous. The e-scooter rental company "Bird" has brought its 4400 scooters in the winter from the streets in all German cities - for security reasons. Many other providers are trying to save the summer trend over the season.
The rental companies that provide e-scooters in many cities, at least the drivers point out dangers. For example, on "Voi", before you leave, you have to click to confirm some rules - including "I know that helmets are great" or "I will not drive under the influence of drugs and / or alcohol". The provider "Tier" reminds the driver not to drive faster than the allowed 20 kilometers per hour - "especially if you drive downhill".