Implications for road system management of emerging types of private passenger vehicles

The desire for personal mobility continues to stimulate the creation of innovative vehicle designs. The motor car continues to evolve but it is being complemented by alternative means of independent motorised mobility including personal mobility devices, low powered two wheel vehicles and small footprint four wheel vehicles. For road network managers, the growth of alternative vehicles can have a variety of impacts and implications, from the design of individual elements of the road system, such as parking bays, to the refinement of the regulatory structures that govern vehicle use. The research reported here was undertaken to: 1. Enhance understanding of the characteristics of emerging vehicle types; 2. Identify potential impacts, and 3. Examine implications for road system management particularly in relation to regulation and design. The structure of this paper is as follows. The spectrum of alternative private passenger vehicles is illustrated in Section 2. Section 3 outlines the assessment approach used to examine the extent to which the different types of emerging private passenger vehicles might contribute to the objectives which road system managers commonly seek to progress. Implications of the assessment are explored in Section 4 and the conclusions of the study are presented in Section 5.