The Government’s continued delay in regulating e-scooters is “costing lives and causing misery on our city roads every day”, according to IAM RoadSmart.
New data shows there were 1,434 casualties involving e-scooters in 2021, among which 10 people were killed.
There were also 421 serious injuries and 1,003 slight injuries.
The 2021 figures represent a rapid increase on 2020, when there were 484 casualties involving e-scooters, including one death, 128 serious injuries and 355 slight injuries.
IAM RoadSmart has called the rise in casualties “utterly unacceptable” and is calling on the Government to introduce long-awaited legislation to regulate privately-owned e-scooters for the first time.
Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM RoadSmart, said: “The e-scooter carnage must stop.
“A tenfold increase in deaths related to e-scooters in just one year is utterly unacceptable and the continued delay in regulating these machines is costing lives and causing misery on our city roads every day.
“IAM RoadSmart calls on the new transport secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, to make road safety the number one deliverable for her department in the coming months by introducing the long-awaited Transport Bill to regulate e-scooters for the first time.”
The Transport Bill was first unveiled back in May. The then transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said it will focus on allowing the Government to “properly regulate” the standards of e-scooters that can be bought in shops.
Mr Shapps said he wants privately-owned e-scooters to meet similar safety specifications as those involved in rental trials – “potentially even exceeding them”. This includes safety features such as lighting and indicators.
Meanwhile, the road safety industry also awaits the publication of the DfT’s monitoring report on the e-scooter rental trials, originally due in September 2021.
It is not the delay in regulating e-scooters that is costing lives and causing misery in our cities every day – but these uncontrollable e-scooters themselves! The rental trials have proved that no amount f regulations make these machines safe. All the rented scooters have strict regulations– which don’t w0rk at all as they zoom with impunity all over pavements and pedestrianized areas injuring and terrifying pedestrians and animals – including guide dogs . The e-scooters are then left flung all over pavements causing a severe trip hazard. There is also photographic evidence f faulty tyres.
The only way to make these-scooters safe is to ban them.
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/birmingham/2021/06/22/five-serious-e-scooter-injuries/
Christina Young, Liverpool
+3
So, on the day that DfT reports over 30,000 vulnerable road user (pedestrians and cyclists) casualties injured by motorists managing to collide with them the Institute of Advanced Motorists chooses to publicise a report on the dangers of e-scooters whilst omitting the very pertinent fact that three quarters of the casualties were a result of motorists hitting them.
Surely the “Elephant in the Room” is the use of motor vehicles in the presence of vulnerable road users rather than the vulnerable road users themselves. Maybe its time to ask for the “Motorised vehicle carnage to stop”
Rod King, Lymm
--3
Let’s reword the above article to demonstrate the real issue:
> The Government’s continued delay in regulating [bicycles] is “costing lives and causing misery on our city roads every day”, according to IAM RoadSmart.
> IAM RoadSmart has called the rise in casualties “utterly unacceptable” and is calling on the Government to introduce long-awaited legislation to regulate privately-owned [bicycles] for the first time.
Yet, people promote cycling. I’m now cycling far more than I was a couple of years ago. I would like to think the problem isn’t with the mode of transport, but with the ability to use the available road network in a safe manner.
Which is rather poor for both cyclists and e-scooter users alike.
David Weston, Newcastle upon Tyne
0
It does seem such a simple fix, and should have been sorted June 2020 as lockdown was easing to allow people to get around socially distanced:
– align scooters limited to 15.5mph with electric assisted cycles, and treat as a cycle
– align scooter over 15.5mph with motorcycles
– construction and use rules to ensure a consistent build standard
These scooters are no more dangerous than a bicycle or motorcycle, it’s all about how they are operated – currently users are ducking and diving as they are not yet legal.
Ben Graham, Woodley, Reading
--2