Murder or accident? Motorists after e-scooter tragedy in custody!

Murder or accident? Motorists after e-scooter tragedy in custody!

In Germany, the topic of e-scooters is increasingly becoming the focus of the public, especially after a tragic incident in Frankfurt am Main, which caused a sensation. A 23-year-old driver was arrested over a week after the fatal accident with two e-scooters on the night of July 6th. According to Stern is accused of negligent killing and attempted manslaughter. At the time of the crime, the driver had not only consumed excessive speed, but also laughing gas.

The tragic accident occurred when the accused got on a bike path and caught two 23-year-old men who drove together on an e-scooter. While one of the drivers died at the scene of the accident, his twin brother later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. In addition, a third e-scooter driver, 27 years old, became seriously injured and suffered an open traumatic brain trauma, which finally led to an amputation.

increasing number of accidents and security risks

The increased number of accidents with e-scooters are alarming. In 2023, the number of e-scooter accidents with personal injury rose by 14.1 % to a total of 9,425. The number of fatalities even doubled from 11 in 2022 to 22 in 2023, as the Statistics of the Destatis . In view of this, the most common causes of accidents, false road uses (19.4 %) and alcohol influence (15.1 %), make it clear that both drivers and infrastructure urgently need to be improved.

It is particularly frightening that 80.4 % of the drivers who have crashed are under 45 years old. A large part of the accidents, about 60 %, occurred in large cities, with the main accidents in particular. 33.8 % of the accidents alone were sole accidents, and 12 of the 22 deceased died in such events.

The role of sharing providers and transport infrastructure

Another aspect that must be observed is the role of the sharing providers. According to numbers from rbb24 are rental scooter responsible for about half of the accidents, although they are only a quarter of the available e-scooter turn off. These companies are calling for an improvement in the infrastructure to increase safety in road traffic.