Shared e-scooter riders blame near misses on inexperience, study finds

Riders of shared e-scooters are more likely to attribute near misses to inexperience than those who own their scooters, according to a longitudinal study led by Queensland University of Technology researchers.

The study followed 285 riders across five Australian states and territories for 12 months, surveying them twice between July 2024 and June 2026. Participants reported crashes and near misses from the previous year, rating how much rider inexperience, road conditions, and other road users' behavior contributed to each event.

Doctoral researcher Fariborz Mansourifar said most near misses involved another road user, most often a car. At the follow-up survey, 78 percent of near misses involved a car, and 70 percent did at the final survey. Most reported crashes occurred without another road user involved, though the total crash numbers were small: 18 at follow-up and 22 at the final survey.

When riders rated the role of inexperience on a scale, shared e-scooter users scored it significantly higher than private owners did (2.3 versus 1.3 at follow-up, 2.2 versus 1.3 at final). Private e-scooter riders most often blamed other road users' behavior, followed by road infrastructure and maintenance. The study found no statistically significant change in near-miss rates over the year after accounting for riding frequency.

Mansourifar noted that Australian states and territories have varying e-scooter laws, with Queensland recently requiring a driver's license for riders aged 16 or older. The researchers suggested that onboarding, beginner riding modes, and brief hands-on practice could be worth evaluating to support new shared e-scooter users.