Alcohol- and drug-impaired e-scooter riding: exploring countermeasures from Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, and Norway
DOI: 10.1057/s41300-024-00211-w
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Summary
This study addresses the emerging public safety challenge of alcohol- and drug-impaired e-scooter riding. Motivated by the rapid growth of micromobility and evidence that impairment affects e-scooter riders similarly to drivers, the research explores how four jurisdictions—Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, and Norway—are managing this issue. The authors aim to identify effective countermeasures by examining the perspectives of professionals involved in policy, enforcement, and industry operations. The researchers employed a qualitative methodology, conducting ten semi-structured video interviews with fifteen participants from government transport departments, local councils, police forces, and e-scooter hire firms across the four countries. Using Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis, the study categorized countermeasures into four themes: enforcement, education, encouragement, and the road environment. The analysis was framed by theoretical concepts including deterrence theory, third-party policing, nudge theory, and the safe system approach. The findings reveal that traditional police enforcement is widely considered ineffective due to limited resources, underdeveloped regulations, and the difficulty of identifying unregistered riders. While Norway and Belgium have reclassified e-scooters as motor vehicles to enable breath testing, enforcement remains prioritized for heavier vehicles. Third-party policing initiatives, such as GPS-based geofencing that bans hire scooters from alcohol-serving areas, show promise but fail to address the growing market of privately owned e-scooters, which lack speed controls and are often ridden by individuals with prior DUI offenses. Education campaigns and app-based behavioral nudges, such as cognitive tests and influencer-led norm messaging, are common but often suffer from short-term impact or low engagement. Participants noted that some riders will continue to ride impaired regardless of interventions. The study concludes that because impaired riding cannot be fully prevented, governments must adopt the "safe system" approach to create a forgiving road environment. This involves designing infrastructure and enforcing lower speed limits to minimize injury severity when crashes occur. The research highlights the limitations of current regulatory frameworks, particularly regarding private ownership, and suggests that a combination of third-party policing, behavioral nudges, and infrastructure improvements is necessary to mitigate risks associated with impaired micromobility.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-24 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-24 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-25 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
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