Shared e-scooter services and road safety: Evidence from six European countries

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.