Letters: Shocking injury tally exposes Lime Scooter danger

Today readers have their say on the shocking injury rate with Lime Scooters, PM Scott Morrison’s decison to holiday during the bushfire crsis and the future of North Stradbroke Island.

Lime scooters being ridden on the streets of Brisbane. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

THE story and statistics of injuries caused by the introduction of Lime Scooters in Brisbane (C-M, Dec 23) should be a clarion call to the State Government that compulsory third party insurance should be a given for this industry.

That there have been 447 emergency department presentations reported in just one year is a damning statistic that is putting our already overworked public hospitals in a further perilous state due to this scooter craze.

That public liability insurance is allowed to be skipped by these scooter companies is troubling.

The injuries that were highlighted in the story of just two scooter users were horrific. The safety aspect of these scooters is questionable at best.

The extra strain on our public health system because of these scooters is plain to see. It is incumbent on the State Government to enact legislation immediately to insist that this company pay public liability insurance to cover users.

Until the Government holds to account this scooter company, taxpayers will be slugged with the cost of countless injuries clogging up our emergency departments.

Paul Henderson, Wynnum

UNFORTUNATELY, I’m not surprised by the number of injuries caused by Lime Scooter incidents.

They are a danger for pedestrians as they are silent and fast and, obviously not safe on the roads.

More than 1.8 million trips on these dangerous scooters shows that the company must be elated with their profit.

As the number of injuries is 30 times higher than expected, these scooters should be eliminated.

Lesley Brandis, Camp Hill

WITH all due respect to Deputy Mayor Krista Adams, there is another side to scooter riding.

The generally dangerous condition of footpaths around Brisbane is such that motorised-scooter riders in particular take their lives into their own hands every time they venture forth.

As a young child I came off my push scooter badly when I veered off the footpath on to the then unsealed road passing our home.

We all know that councils will usually not remove trees from footpaths because of the political ramifications involved.

And I acknowledge that Brisbane City Council does spend time and money rectifying kilometres of concrete paths pushed up because of tree-root expansion.

But, for me, the removal of offending trees would be money better spent as well as the adopting of a more appropriate tree-planting program. In the meantime, no scooter riding for me.

Richard K. Tiainen, Holland Park West

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IPrime Minister Scott Morrison prepares to tour the Blue Mountains bushfires.

POLITICIANS CAN’T CATCH A BREAK IN CRISIS

YOUR Editorial (C-M, Dec 21), discussing Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his holiday, pointed out that Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is also on holidays.

The difference here is that fires are a state concern and she should have been consulting with her fire chiefs and emergency services.

Morrison can only offer support but is not involved in the day-to-day procedures.

Not a good look for the Premier.

Gay Campbell, Cannon Hill

OUR PM is entitled to a holiday like everyone else.

But now that he is back he says he would do anything for the firefighters.

OK, how about buying two or three water bomber planes.

Helicopters do the best they can with the amount of water they carry but need the backup of the big planes.

This has become more than desperate.

Joy Long, Bethania

I AM appalled at the anger towards Scott Morrison for taking a family holiday.

Where is the level of anger directed at the people who deliberately lit a large percentage of these bushfires?

The PM has had a huge year and deserves some family time.

Margaret Ritter, Cornubia

WE DON’T need Scott Morrison back in Australia just to offer moral support.

We need leadership. Leaders take advice from experts not lobbyists.

They marshall resources, develop a plan and get the public on board.

Of course, it’s not possible to have a worthy plan if you can’t accept what scientists have been saying for decades – that extreme weather events are linked to atmospheric heating caused by human activity.

If Morrison can’t do the job, he should forget the photo ops, get back to Hawaii and stick his head in the sand.

John Brinnand, Kiamba

THE climate change activists blaming Scott Morrison for the bushfires in Australia are pathetic.

These people think that if all coal mining ceased bushfires would miraculously cease to be a problem.

What would happen is there would be no electricity (let’s see how the greenies cope with that) and Australia would be plunged into a massive recession with record unemployment.

Think about the consequences of more than 100,000 people becoming unemployed.

The country would be ruined.

Ian Baume, Zillmere

IS IT possible to stop politicising the tragic bushfires throughout our beautiful country?

Yes, Scott Morrison chose to take a holiday at the wrong time.

He came back, admitted he made a mistake and apologised. Can we now concentrate on helping our country get back on its feet?

It is heartbreaking to see the devastation and hear the gut-wrenching stories emerging from the poor people affected by this disaster and the suffering animals with nowhere to hide.

Please let us just join hands to provide whatever help and assistance we can as Australians.

Laelea Smith, Ormiston

I AGREE with letter writers that Scott Morrison has no case to answer for taking an overseas holiday while the country burns.

I wish he would stay abroad so we don’t have to listen to his nonsense.

Bruce Gain, Ascot

WITH regard to our PM being absent, it’s easy to criticise in hindsight.

We could all make better decisions if we could see into the future, but we are only human. Christmas is a time of goodwill to all, so let us remember “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

Nancy Brandon, Severnlea

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ISLAND IN TRANSITION

FURTHER to the article “Line in sand for Straddie” (C-M, Dec 21), the situation analysis commissioned by the Bligh Government examined the impacts of cessation of sand mining on North Stradbroke Island on production, incomes, employment and revenue derived from sand mining and received by governments.

It attested to the hostile future we on the island face, especially given the short time frame allowed to transition the economy.

It found, “… there is substantial evidence to suggest that even with mining, the economy is currently under stress and demonstrates a lack of resilience.”

And that, “… businesses on the island, and the community in general, need to be realistic about

the likely level of government infrastructure investment and should therefore prioritise needs by identifying what is critical and what is desirable.”

Furthermore, it stresses, there needs to be investigation of innovative and cost-effective models of infrastructure delivery such as joint ventures, private-public partnerships, cross-subsidy innovations and private investment. 

The problem with the North Stradbroke Island Economic Transition Strategy, which touts innovation as an objective, is not just the almost total focus on the native title body corporate, but the absence of a search for entrepreneurial enterprises.

The Government’s primary objective now is to develop socio-economic status rather than economic certainty.

There are 23 projects included in the NSI ETS.

However, contrary to the assertion in the article, they are not all “tourism projects”.

At best there are only six, all of which are dependent on government funding.

Bill Giles, Dunwich

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