Shared e-scooter services and road safety

Author(s)
Cannon Cloud, Simon Heß, Johannes Kasinger
Abstract

We estimate the causal effect of shared e-scooter services on traffic accidents by exploiting the variation in the availability of e-scooter services induced by the staggered rollout across 93 cities in six countries. Police-reported accidents involving personal injuries in the average month increased by around 8.2% after shared e-scooters were introduced. Effects are large during summer and insignificant during winter. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals the largest estimated effects for cities with limited cycling infrastructure, while no effects are detectable in cities with high bike-lane density. This difference suggests that public policy can play a crucial role in mitigating accidents related to e-scooters and, more generally, to changes in urban mobility.

Organisation(s)
Department of Economics
External organisation(s)
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Tilburg University
Journal
European Economic Review
Volume
160
ISSN
0014-2921
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104593
Publication date
11-2023
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
502042 Environmental economics, 509016 Transport economics, 509004 Evaluation research
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Finance, Economics and Econometrics
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/shared-escooter-services-and-road-safety(10a928cd-7273-41d0-b09f-debb07719074).html