Characterizing Risky Driving Behaviors of Electric Two-Wheelers Riders To Create Prevention Guidelines in China and in France

Abstract

Today, Chinese people rely heavily on Electric Two-Wheelers (E2W), both the scooter and the bike styles, thus the production keeps growing. This phenomenon coincides with a high rate of E2W rider mortality. However, reviewing the literature indicates a dearth of publications related to the characterization of E2W driver behaviors. In Europe, and more specifically in France, the prevelence of E2Wstarts to rise. In this regard, our ongoing collaborative research project, for which we introduce the framework in this paper, aims to develop new specific knowledge about the risk of E2W that would jointly serve immediate prevention needs in China and prospective prevention in France. In this paper, we first introduce the E2W’s current place within road traffic and their benefits in France and China as well as the projected future growth of these vehicles. Secondly, we refer to the literature dedicated to Powered Two-Wheelers (PTW) to infer some common characterization with E2W. We continue with a description of the particular characteristic of road traffic in China. Then, we review the literature aiming to find out what defines dangerous/risky driving behaviors and how they are measured in the Chinese road context. Notably, we critically report the currently implemented tools that gauge either violation or dangerous, aberrant driving behaviors of both cars and two-wheelers. We point out a general lack of definition regarding the labels of “violation” and “risky driving behaviors.” We argue the need to go beyond a classical but restrictive design in terms of errors, violations, or self/hetero aggressive intent. Finally, we suggest only operationalizing the defintion of risky driving behaviors provided by Dula and Geller (2003) in relation to E2W and PTW riders.