Raising awareness for safer e-scooter rides in Italy
2 years ago
2 years ago
We regularly team up with civic authorities and local organizations to make the streets safe for everyone, especially vulnerable citizens like the visually impaired and people with disabilities.
In collaboration with The Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted (UICI) and energy partner Iren, we’ve launched an awareness campaign to ensure proper use of e-scooters in Italy. Starting in Turin, the ‘Sicuro su Dott’ campaign aims to “inform and educate riders on the correct use of e-scooters to respect all road users, with great attention to pedestrians, especially the visually impaired”.
We needed to reach our riders where they are most active, so what better platform than social media. The #SicuroSuDott campaign is currently active on the Dott Italia Instagram channel, and on UICI and Iren’s channels. Through quizzes, surveys and questions in our stories and posts, we show the most common mistakes users make when they ride an e-scooter and explain what they should do instead.
Andrea Giaretta, Southern Europe Regional Manager at Dott, explains our approach with this initiative: “There is no doubt that shared e-scooters and e-bikes represent a major innovation for individual urban mobility, and the success of this service is a clear demonstration of this. However, It is crucial that we do not increase the difficulties of those who have visual or motor impairments.”
To make these rules even clearer for users, we aim to organize in-person local training sessions in cities all over Italy as soon as it’s safe. As Andrea adds, “every day we work to offer a service that is as safe as possible, not only for our users but also for those who come into contact indirectly. This campaign is, therefore, an additional tool that allows us to offer inclusive and accessible mobility”.
The core of the #SicuroSuDott was developed along with UICI. The aim is to focus on the problems that most impact the mobility of pedestrians, like wrongly parked e-scooters blocking the paths of the visually impaired, people with disabilities, the elderly and children in strollers.
“We wish to thank Dott for wanting to involve our association in this communication campaign aimed at e-scooter users”, said Giovanni Laiolo of UICI. Our collaboration with UICI is crucial to making sure we’re creating safe streets – not only for our riders, but for all citizens.
We are convinced that the vital work of raising awareness is the best tool to ensure truly sustainable mobility – to care for the environment, provide comfort for citizens, and ensure the safety of the most vulnerable people.
Ensuring we’re a responsible operator comes with a constant focus on safety. The #SicuroSuDott campaign is just one of our many initiatives to raise awareness on using e-scooters the right way, especially for first-timers.
Before someone takes their first ride, we take them through the basics of road safety in the app. This guidance reminds them to always use bike lanes, not to ride on the sidewalks, and park only in designated areas, along with the local traffic rules. We also keep riders informed about no-go zones, leaving city boundaries, or ending a ride in no-park zones throughout their experience. Low-speed zones also automatically adjust vehicle speed in areas where riders need to be extra careful, like hospital entrances, near schools, or places with high pedestrian traffic.
This rider education, as well as initiatives like Sicuro su Dott, will ensure we keep the conversation going on safe rides for all.
