Who’s to Blame for E-Scooter Collisions?: An Analysis of the Language Used in E-Scooter Collision Reporting

Johnson, Milena

doi:10.17610/T6FS5X

i

Who’s to Blame for E-Scooter Collisions?: An Analysis of the Language Used in E-Scooter Collision Reporting

2025-08-31
By Johnson, Milena

File Language:

English

Details

Creators:

Johnson, Milena
Corporate Creators:

University of California, Los Angeles. Institute of Transportation Studies
Corporate Contributors:

United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
Subject/TRT Terms:
Publication/ Report Number:

UCLA ITS-LA2523
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17610/T6FS5X
Resource Type:

Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:

United States
Edition:

Final report (July 2024 – August 2025)
Corporate Publisher:

University of California, Los Angeles. Institute of Transportation Studies
Abstract:

The growing popularity of electric scooters (e-scooters) in urban environments has led to increased media coverage on their perceived danger both to the rider and to other users of the roadway. Media surrounding traffic collisions has long been criticized by safety researchers and activists for implicitly assigning blame to more vulnerable road users through the passive voice, and through framing roadway deaths as tragic accidents, rather than a systemic public health issue. In this paper, I analyzed recent news articles on e-scooter collisions in the United States to determine how e-scooters, a relatively new form of mobility, are described in collision narratives. Most articles discussing e-scooter collisions with vehicle drivers used the passive voice to remove explicit blame but used the active voice when describing a collision between an e-scooter and a pedestrian. This pattern indicates a continued motor vehicle bias in social conceptions of traffic collisions and a potential new bias towards e-scooter riders.
Format:

PDF
Funding:

693JJ32545053
Download URL:

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/86850/dot_86850_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 211.55 KB]
Collection(s):

US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:46a28e2fd1235dade3e005835ec9c1fe309b523348b0281081f49fa7e30d646f942b0d84c8f31228d46f3ba4f1d9ea52244179f622e3347524891c930e68bbbc

File Language:

English

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