Experimental assessment of personal mobility devices for first and last-mile commuting on a shared path with elderly pedestrian

Abstract

Personal Mobility Devices (PMD) are appearing frequently in Singapore roads and footpaths. These “Smart-Mobility” devices have been used for short-distance transportation within the living and urban areas to commute without hassling through traffic congestion. However, there has been a surge in PMD related accidents with pedestrians since the introduction of the PMD. There is a need to study and analyze the impact PMD has on pedestrians in the shared paths. This research project focus on studying four different types of PMDs (Go-Cycle, Inokim, Schaeffler E-skateboard, and Z-zero2.0) performance characteristics related to the pedestrian’s comfort level. The Comfort level of pedestrians will be determined by setting up a controlled field experiment in which will be video recorded to extract data and observe participant’s responses when interacted with the PMDs. 30 Participants were above 40years old due to the increase in the aging population environment. Data extraction is done using Kineova software, Matlab and the Microsoft excel macros program has been using to compel to understand and study the field experiment. Factors such as Approaching Distance (AD), Lateral Distance (LD), Actual Speed, and comfort level scale use to understand whether the PMD user causing discomfort to the pedestrians.