Lime on notice as injured rider calls for scooter safety review

Lime has been placed on two weeks' notice after a spate of issues resulted in serious injuries to riders, with Brisbane City Council threatening to revoke the company's permit to operate hire scooters in the city.

The incidents have led to victims calling for a review into the controversial hire scooters and a compensation lawyer warning of inadequate scooter liability insurance.

Lime scooters have two weeks to remedy a dangerous glitch or risk losing their permit.Credit: Albert Perez/AAP

Lime scooter rider Viktor Vukovic said he suffered a shattered arm after the front wheel of his electric scooter locked up at speed.

Mr Vukovic, a cyber security adviser, said he had been using the scooters daily as part of his morning commute since they arrived on Brisbane streets in November.

An x-ray of Viktor Vukovic's arm after a Lime scooter crash, showing the pins and plates after he broke it in three places.

But on January 22, while riding back to his car in Kangaroo Point, he said the front wheel of the scooter locked up, hurling him over the handlebars.

“I ended up with three plates and fourteen screws holding my arm together,” Mr Vukovic said.

“It just locked up and I went straight over, so obviously I put my hands out to break the fall but I broke my hand instead.”

The glitch has also been reported overseas and has already claimed several victims in Brisbane.

Deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner said Brisbane City Council had "urgently sought assurance from Lime that the issue had been dealt with”.

“Lime has assured council the issue has been identified and resolved," he said.

“Council told Lime on Wednesday they had two weeks to demonstrate the problem was indeed fixed or their permit would not be extended."

Cr Schrinner said the state government also had to enforce safety measures, such as helmet use and speed.

“Unless council is satisfied both Lime and the state have delivered on their respective responsibilities to deliver a safe eScooter service, council will not be extending the permit beyond the current two weeks,” he said.

Lime’s director of government affairs and strategy Mitchell Price said the company had recently  become aware of the issue of wheels locking up, which had affected scooters in other countries as early as January.

"After immediately decommissioning every scooter in Brisbane that was affected, we began an extensive investigation, working with an independent consulting firm to help determine the cause of the problem," he said.

"We have deployed a firmware update to resolve the wheel locking issue, and have seen a material reduction in the number of incidents reported of this nature in Brisbane since the update rollout.

"Our local operations team are actively performing quality assurance checks on all scooters in Brisbane."

A Lime spokeswoman said the company encouraged any rider affected by the glitch to contact its customer support team.

“Lime’s liability insurance exceeds state and council requirements, this coverage is there for riders and the public if something goes wrong,” she said.

In a statement on its website issued on Saturday, Lime said the company had identified a bug in its firmware that “under rare circumstances” such as riding downhill at high speed, the front brakes might lock up.

“We have developed a series of updates for the firmware and are confident in their efficacy,” the statement said.

The company has had its scooter rollout temporarily halted in Auckland and Dunedin while the glitch was investigated.

Other areas in New Zealand, including Christchurch and Hutt Valley, still have scooters operating. In Australia, Adelaide is also starting a Lime trial.

Mr Vukovic had surgery on his broken arm the day after his accident and had to take three weeks off work.

“I’m still recovering and I’ll never get full use of my arm again ... the physio said if I’m lucky I might get about 90 per cent [mobility] again,” he said.

Mr Vukovic said it was not the first time he had experienced the front wheel locking up on the scooter, but never to such a severe degree.

Mr Vukovic said he did not lodge an injury claim with Lime, but wants to see the company review its software and Brisbane City Council investigate the scooters’ safety.

“I definitely think they should review the safety of them, clearly there’s a known safety issue and people are getting hurt so I definitely think the council should look more into it,” he said.

Another rider, Jordan Madigan, suffered a heel injury after the scooter he was riding locked up. He did lodge a claim with Lime, which a Lime spokeswoman said was being reviewed.

“Clearly there’s a known safety issue and people are getting hurt, I think the council should look more into it,” Mr Vukovic said.

Brisbane compensation lawyer Travis Schultz, however, said pedestrians could also be vulnerable if Lime’s public liability insurance did not extend to cover anyone who was struck or injured by a scooter rider.

A Lime spokeswoman said the company’s $20 million public liability insurance policy was in place “for riders and the public if something goes wrong”.

“While on a scooter, riders are responsible to obeying the road rules including wearing a helmet, following the speed limit and only having one person riding at a time,” she said.

Lime’s user agreement, available on its website, states the company is not responsible for any damage, liability, claims or injuries, and Lime scooter riders are responsible if their use of the scooters injures others.

Mr Schultz suggested scooters could be regulated similarly to car insurance, with a compulsory third party insurance scheme to ensure any passer-by who was injured by a scooter rider was protected.

“What we need is a policy that covers users for damage they might cause to other pedestrians or road users, rather than just covering Lime,” he said.

“The biggest concern is inexperienced people using these scooters, assuming they’re safe and easy, and accidentally running into a child or an elderly person, causing significant injuries and finding themselves personally liable for the damage they did.”

Mr Schultz said the council could require Lime to take out insurance covering third parties as part of their conditions for use on the streets of Brisbane, but the cost of such insurance would be huge.

“Council are the ones who have the ability to fix the problem … it’s not a state government issue,” he said.

“The council’s immediate response should be simply saying to Lime is a condition of operation is your insurance policy covers all riders for any damage they cause whilst riding.”