Electric scooters and other "motorized personal transport vehicles" (EDPM, that is to say, electric skateboards, gyropods, hoverboards, etc.) are increasingly numerous in urban areas.
Sometimes with difficulties: neither cyclists, nor drivers, nor pedestrians, their users do not always know where to ride or how. The French Insurance Federation (FFA), Prevention Insurance, and the Federation of Micro-Mobility Professionals (FP2M) has launched a study on the subject, to take stock of these practices before, but also after. containment.
Result: if the users of these EDPMs are less stigmatized since the deconfinement, they remain vulnerable and often poorly protected.
The study first shows that the perception of EDPMs has changed: in early 2020, the first characteristic associated with them was dangerousness. It is now the savings and the saving of time.
22% of those surveyed have already used one, and 11% use it regularly. Essentially electric scooters, the most frequent and accessible EDPM. But 31% of French people still believe that this type of machine is annoying for other road users.
For their part, users consider that road regulations are not suited to their practice. And they feel in danger, far more than any other road user, including pedestrians.
They are poorly equipped: even compulsory, light, horn, retro-reflective elements, etc. are often missing from their equipment.
The study distinguishes two types of users: "owners", who have their equipment, and appear to be better informed and better equipped than the others.
Who are the users of self-service equipment, more occasional, but more dangerous?
Thus, 86% of owners wear a helmet (10% for others), 62% retro-reflective equipment (against 15%), 58% other protective accessories (against 11%).
Finally, two-thirds of homeowners know that liability insurance is compulsory, and 62% have taken out one. But less than 20% of occasional users have only checked if they are covered, and less than one in two knows that it is compulsory.
Logically enough, the accident rate of EDPMs is on the rise but follows the curve of their development. Pedestrians (35%) and motorists (18%) are the other road users most involved in accidents with EDPMs. The categories of users most affected by accidents involving EDPMs, which are collisions in a third of cases, and falls for the rest.
Sometimes with serious consequences: if in 60% of cases, injuries in EDPM are slight, in 2 out of 10 cases, users had to go to the emergency room and 11% were hospitalized. Finally, in 2019 Road Safety counted 10 deaths.
Logically, the study being commissioned by insurers, insists on this point: "EDPM users have the same responsibility as those of a car or a motorcycle and must therefore be insured for civil liability. for the protection of all", including with self-service vehicles, explains Stéphane Pénet, deputy general manager of the French Insurance Federation (FFA).
The EDPMs have now integrated the highway code, and the study allows insurers to recall the basic rules, often little or not known to users. And for good reason: no license is necessary to drive these machines, which can reach 40 km / h - but with which it is forbidden to exceed 25 km / h.
For example, it is forbidden to transport a passenger, to move around with his headphones, or to ride on sidewalks - reserved for pedestrians ... but also for non-motorized scooters!
As for equipment, some are compulsory outside the built-up area, such as a helmet or a reflective vest. Others are used all the time, such as the lighting, the horn, or the brakes. And some are strongly recommended, by simple common sense: wear a covering outfit and gloves.
2024 ©