Preventing drink-driving among young e-scooter drivers - TIER App

Drinking and riding an e-scooter is an entrenched problem facing our sector and, to date, no-one has adequately tackled the issue. Through our taxi partnerships feature TIER aims to help address that major road safety challenge. Alcohol consumption has been identified as an important risk factor resulting in road traffic injury or death. A recent study found that 20% of injuries sustained by e-scooter users were sustained while under the influence of alcohol. This research (and other studies) indicate that traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are among the most severe injuries sustained by e-scooter users that ride under the influence of alcohol. The same study found that alcohol consumption increases the risk of a TBI fivefold while operating an e-scooter compared to a sober user. E-scooter injury analysis in the US cities of Santa Monica and San Diego suggest a strong correlation between alcohol consumption and crash severity. TIER's feature is part of our programme of work that aims to prevent drink riding amongst the micro-mobility sector. The objectives of the anti-drinking and riding campaign are as follows: 1. Remind riders about the dangers of drinking and riding and e-scooter. 2. Encourage riders to take a taxi home if they have then drinking, rather than take a TIER 3. Make it as easy as possible for riders to get home quickly if they have been drinking. The target audience of the campaign is any e-scooter user who is likely to use our service whilst under the influence of alcohol.

Project activities

If you work together with external partners, list the most important partners and briefly describe their role.

TIER has collaborated with leading taxi companies to make this feature work, including FREE NOW, Oslo taxi Taksi Helsinki and Taxi Stockholm.

Please describe the project activities you carried/are carrying out and the time period over which these were implemented.

Our 'anti-drink-riding' feature is active in the TIER app between 9pm and 4am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It's simple but effective. In London, for example, riders are reminded of the laws on drink-riding and asked if they are okay to ride. If they have been drinking, an in-app notification will direct them to book a taxi via a FREE NOW app. The design of our 'anti-drink-riding' feature was informed by our research partnership with Innovation Bubble, which found that there are both psychological and pragmatic drivers behind why people drink and then ride an e-scooter. 1. Psychological insights: Research found that those who drink and ride don't feel they have ever consumed enough alcohol that would pose a danger to themselves or others. They base this on a feeling of control, rather than looking at the actual metrics of alcohol they have consumed. People choose scooters as a mode of transport after drinking because it allows them to have control over their journey home. They can set the speed, route and timing of their journey. Our research also found that people were optimistic about how much alcohol affected them; they believed even if they were tipsy they were still in control. 2. Pragmatic insights: Our interviews also showed that participants lacked awareness of the legal implications of drinking and riding an e-scooter. Riders interviewed also felt that the decision was also spontaneous so they didn't think through the consequences of drink-riding, plus with a shorter journey they felt the perceived risk was lower. TIER's feature aims to give riders control over their journey by allowing riders to easily reach their destination via a cab and providing timely reminders of when it is not safe to ride an e-scooter.

List the actions you carried/are carrying out

Date

Tuesday, 31 May, 2022

Evaluation

What has been the effect of the activities?

TIER's drink riding feature aims to discourage drink riding and prevent people from using an e-scooter under the influence. Whilst we can't measure behaviour change as a result of this feature, we can measure the volume of people who have seen the reminder then taken a cab, as an indicator of how effective the campaign has been. Across all cities, 138,000 riders have seen the message so far. The feature has gained far-reaching media coverage (please see links below) including in publications with a large readership, helping to future spread TIER's safety messages.

Please briefly explain why your initiative is a good example of improving road safety.

TIER e-scooters already come with best-in-class safety features which minimise the risks to riders and the public. That includes innovations like prominent indicator lights, shock absorbers and a large front wheel, which provides greater stability. Our scooters also have triple brakes and a double kickstand which means TIER leads the sector in safe stopping-distance and wind topple tests. Yet when it comes to curbing drink-riding, we have gone the extra mile by rolling out our new and unique feature in several cities, including London, Paris, Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki. Our 'anti-drink-riding' feature is active in key cities and aims to discourage riders from drinking and taking an e-scooter, instead providing them with an alternative mode of transport home. We are so committed to road safety that, through this feature, we are actively telling prospective customers not to take our service and re-directing them to a competing mode of transport.

How have you shared information about your project and its results?

Visit links (media coverage, social media and blog).

Preventing drink-driving among young e-scooter drivers - TIER App