The NPRA can use its road network design strategies to promote physical activity and good public health. But to do this it requires information about all forms of transport using the roads. It has recently commissioned a team of SINTEF researchers to look into the various health impacts of cycling, walking and the use of e-scooters to get to work.
The NPRA is especially curious about how the use of e-scooters affects public health, because to date there is very little research on the positive impacts that they may have.
“We know from previous studies that people often use an e-scooter instead of walking or cycling”, says Hampus Karlsson, who is the project manager and a researcher into how people use different forms of transport. “So, during this experiment, we’ll be finding out whether those who use e-scooters to get to work are still getting enough daily exercise”, he says.
Three-day trials
The research team has recruited about forty people to take part in the project. The criterion for participation is that they walk, cycle (using an e-bike or traditional bicycle) or use an e-scooter to get to and from work.
The participants each have sensors attached to the chest that measure heart rate, as well as an accelerometer attached to the thigh, which records their levels of activity. The sensor data are collected over period of three days and will tell the researchers how active the participants are and what they get up to outside their journeys to and from work.
“Initially, this is a pilot project designed to test the effectiveness of our measurement methods”, says Karlsson. “If the data are of high quality, we can scale the experiment up using many more participants”, he says.
