Even with thick helmets, motorcycle leathers and boots, and a much bigger and heavier machine to hold on to, motorbike riders frequently come off poorly in collisions with cars.
E-scooter-related injuries have cost $30 million in four years. The Herald reported that people injured by e-scooters lodged 10,577 claims with ACC, which paid out $30.1m between October 2018 and October 2022.
E-scooters are not going away and societies have to learn to live with them with the key issues being considerate use and safety.
There’s a lot to recommend electric scooters and bikes: as fun ways of getting around; and regular, more environmentally friendly, transport alternatives to cars. They are cheaper, non-polluting, and don’t attract parking costs.
They are only going to become more popular and numerous on city streets.
With new fads and technologies, there seems to be a gap before safe habits and regulations catch up to behaviour, including how the mix of travel options mesh together.
In Paris, the noted environmentally-focused mayor Anne Hidalgo is introducing a referendum in April on whether the city should ban its 15,000 e-scooter rentals. She drew a distinction between the scheme and privately owned e-scooters which were not under threat and were “not a problem”.
Perhaps the issue there is rider attitudes to rentals rather than their own property. In Paris, some rental users ignore bans on riding them on pavements, travel in pairs, park them in an inconvenient way or leave them in parks. Rental operators have suggested putting licence plates on them for easier tracking.
Amsterdam, the bike capital of the world, is more worried about “souped-up e-bikes” boosted for extra speed whizzing through the city’s mix of cyclists, pedestrians and scooter riders and is reducing speed limits on hundreds of roads.
Australia has noticed a trend of fires linked to batteries used in e-scooters and e-bikes with more than 450 in the past 18 months.
Riding an e-scooter, which can travel between 25 and 40km/h, is close to cycling, riding an e-bike or travelling on a fuel-powered small moped scooter in terms of speed and force. Using foot-power skateboards or scooters is more comparable to walking or running.
In New Zealand, there appear to be inconsistencies.
A helmet is not mandatory for an e-scooter, only recommended, yet it is required for e-bikes because they are powered versions of cycles. Registration and a driver’s licence are not required to use an e-scooter, but they are for mopeds.
People are also meant to share e-scooters with pedestrians on footpaths - or close to the edge of roads – but not in designated cycle lanes.
Japan, which has been treating e-scooters like mopeds with licences, helmets and registration needed, is easing requirements for some types. Bristol, in England, is hoping to address the common problem of erratic parking with parking hubs in its rental scheme.
Different authorities are dealing with the same issues to try to improve the use of methods of getting around that are growing in popularity.
Until regulations and protocols catch up with the trend, extra vigilance and consideration will be required by everyone.
