Riding safety Evaluation of food delivery motor scooters based on Associating Sensor-based riding behavior and road traffic characteristics

Abstract

The safety of motor scooters used to deliver food has come under scrutiny due to the growing popularity of food delivery services in Republic of Korea. Policymakers have been tasked with investigating and identifying the factors associated with scooter safety to prevent accidents and develop mitigating strategies. A comprehensive analysis of the components of road traffic influencing the safety of motor scooters has received little attention to date. This study aims to identify the road- and traffic-related factors that affect the safety of such vehicles through GIS-based geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis. First, it assesses safety by analyzing the riding characteristics of delivery scooters using naturalistic study data, including speed, acceleration, and direction. Second, it evaluates safety through the hazardous riding behavior rate, offering a proactive measure for preventing accidents. Third, it uses GWR analysis to examine safety factors at the scale of the individual road segments (referred to as ’links’), identifying hazardous road segments and proposing customized measures. The results show that number of lanes, signal density, speed limit, and average speed on road segments are key factors influencing motor scooter safety. A thorough interpretation of the geographical regression coefficients for the two most hazardous links suggests useful policy implications. Notably, the effects of speed limits and riding speeds on safety vary by link. We propose effective speed-management strategies by analyzing the relationship between speed limit and the average speed of delivery motor scooters. Our research provides valuable insights on how to improve the safety of delivery motor scooters. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd