Powered mobility devices, including mobility scooters and powerchairs, provide essential support for many people across the UK, enabling greater independence, mobility and participation in everyday life.
However, despite their importance and increasing use, powered mobility devices remain poorly understood from a transport safety perspective. A new PACTS briefing paper highlights the need for better data, clearer policy and improved support to enable safe use.
A growing and overlooked user group
There are potentially 500,000–850,000 powered mobility device users in the UK, with demand expected to continue growing as the population ages and technology develops.
At the same time, available data indicate that collisions involving powered mobility devices, including those resulting in serious injuries and fatalities, have increased significantly since 2014.
Despite this, powered mobility device users have historically received limited attention within road safety policy and research. There remains a lack of understanding about when, where and how these devices are used, as well as the safety challenges faced by users.
Key findings
The briefing identified three key areas requiring attention:
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- Growing use and collisions: Powered mobility device use is increasing, alongside a rise in reported collisions. Better data is needed to understand risks and improve safety.
- Complex and unclear rules: The current legal and policy framework is difficult to navigate, with limited awareness among users, professionals and other road users.
- Limited training provision: Only around one third of users report receiving training, and more evidence is needed on what approaches best support safe use.
Action is needed
PACTS’ paper highlights the need for a coordinated approach focused on:
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- Improving data collection and understanding of powered mobility device use and collisions.
- Developing clearer and more consistent policy.
- Expanding the evidence base on effective training and safety support.
- Better representing powered mobility devices within the Highway Code.
- Including powered mobility devices more explicitly within discussions around the Hierarchy of Road Users.
A call to improve understanding
Powered mobility devices are an important part of enabling independence and access for many people. As these devices continue to evolve and overlap with wider micromobility developments, it is important that policy and guidance support clear expectations and safe interactions between all road users.
This briefing paper is a call to recognise powered mobility device users within transport safety discussions and ensure they receive appropriate consideration within future policy development.
