Quietness of electric small mobility: measurement of detection distance and questionnaire survey for sighted and visually impaired persons

Abstract

This study investigates the quietness of electric small mobility, including electric kick scooters and electric bicycles. Detection distance experiments revealed that electric kick scooter have significantly shorter detection distances than internal combustion engine motorcycles. The electric kick scooters, driving at 20 km/h, provided insufficient distance for pedestrians to take evasive action. A questionnaire survey of 180 sighted and 116 visually impaired respondents showed that approximately 70–80% of participants desired approach informing sounds on such vehicles, regardless of disability status. These findings indicate the urgent need for acoustic alerting guidelines for electric small mobility.