Users’ attitudes on electric scooter riding speed on shared footpath: A virtual reality study

Singapore enacted legislation in which off-road footpaths are shared by pedestrians and users of active mobility devices [bicycles, and personal mobility devices such as electric scooter (ES)] since May 2018. From February 2019, the speed limit for active mobility devices on shared footpaths was lowered from 15 km/h to 10 km/h due to frequent incidences of pedestrian-ES crashes. In this study, pedestrian-ES interactive movements along shared footpaths were administered via virtual reality (VR) to 30 subjects as a pedestrian (never rides an ES), and another 30 subjects as an ES rider (rides ES regularly). Ratings were made on perceived degree of safety, feeling of anger (by pedestrians), and celerity of movement (by ES riders), in six VR scenarios: two interaction facings (face-to-face interaction and overtaking) at three ES’ speeds (10 km/h, 15 km/h and 20 km/h). Pedestrian subjects rated ES speeds of 10 km/h and 15 km/h as safer than 20 km/h in overtaking maneuvers, while 15 km/h was rated as safest in face-to-face interactions; the pattern of risk perception is positively correlated with anger level. ES rider subjects rated increasing safety with decreasing riding speed, but 10 km/h was considered to be rather slow. The lack of a clear code of conduct was touted as a key contributory factor in pedestrian-ES crashes.