Auckland Business Chamber CEO Simon Bridges in hospital with broken wrist after electric scooter accident

Auckland Business Chamber CEO Simon Bridges is in hospital after an electric scooter accident today left him with a broken wrist and badly grazed face.

The former National Party leader took to Instagram on Wednesday night to share news of the accident to his 10,000 followers.

“This afternoon I hit a bump while I was on an electric scooter.”

Bridges said he had broken his wrist as well as hurt his face.

Bridges, a former transport minister, said he had broken his wrist and hurt his face.

The image shared to social media by Bridges show significant grazes above and below his left eye as well as a cast on his arm.

Bridges said he was “hugely grateful” to a family who stopped to help him and waited with him for an ambulance.

“I don’t know who they are, but they were incredibly kind to me,” he said.

He said staff at Auckland City Hospital had also been brilliant.

Social media comments have poured in wishing for a speedy recovery for Bridges.

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi had until September 30 last year to decide whether to renew e-scooters’ exemption from being classed as motor vehicles - a decision the agency earlier said would ban e-scooters from everywhere bar private property, given there is no mechanism for licensing riders.

In 2018, shortly before Lime launched in New Zealand, NZTA declared that e-scooters were not motor vehicles under the Land Transport Act 1998 - but it was an exemption that would time out on September 30, 2023.

The exemption was renewed for another five years on September 28.

Last year, as Waka Kotahi announced consultation, the agency explained:

“If Waka Kotahi does not renew the declaration, e-scooters would need to be registered and e-scooter riders would need to be licenced.

“However, because there is currently no way of licensing them, it means that e-scooters could only be used on private property and in areas that are not legally considered roads (e.g. skateparks).”

Consultation closed on August 7.

Waka Kotahi said it would consider “survey feedback as well as how renewing or not renewing the e-scooter declaration would contribute to an effective, efficient and safe land transport system”.

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.