Calls for e-scooter ban on roads, footpaths after schoolboy knocked down

A Queensland boy has had his tooth go through his bottom lip and his wrist broken after being hit by an e-scooter while riding home from school.

There are renewed calls for e-scooters to be banned from roads and footpaths as injuries to riders and other pedestrians continue to skyrocket.

A new study done by Slater and Gordon research, conducted by Roy Morgan, showed 56 per cent of Australian road users were against e-scooters on the road while 50 per cent didn’t want them on footpaths.

Rebecca Hannaford from Cairns was horrified when her 10-year-old son Byron was hit by an e-scooter on his bike ride home from school. He was left with a split lip, a broken wrist, grazes and cuts and his tooth went through his bottom lip.

Byron Hannaford after a head on collision with an e-scooter in Cairns. Picture: Supplied

Ms Hannaford said the terrifying incident could have been avoided and that she had also recently witnessed other near misses involving e-scooters.

“I was leaving work yesterday and one of the purple scooters ran into two people coming around the corner,” she said.

“I witnessed that. It’s a common occurrence. This guy ran and kept on going on.

“It’s not just happening to my child … They have no accountability, there’s no laws restricting them, they ride off the road.”

She said there wasn’t enough being done to protect pedestrians and bike riders.

Byron Hannaford after a head on collision with an e-scooter in Cairns. Picture: Supplied

“I think they need to have some sort of speed limit on all of them like speed monitoring device so the riders are able to see how fast they are going,” she said.

“Some have no way to tell how fast they are going.

“There needs to be some sort of monitoring or restrictions, they are great for people to get to and from (place) yet but they also need to have laws or restrictions on them.”
While new regulations say riders on footpaths must go 12km/h some private scooters don’t show how fast you are going.

RACQ principal technical researcher Andrew Kirk said all the hired ones had a digital speed.

”As do vast majority of privately owned ones. The worst case scenario you use GPS speed app on a smart phone,” he said.

“Some of the cheaper private ones that you can buy, they are pretty basic, they don't have all the bells and whistles.”

Byron Hannaford after a head on collision with an e-scooter in Cairns. Picture: Supplied

Mr Kirk said an RACQ survey found nearly 50 per cent of e-scooter riders had had an accident of one form or another.

“We see scooters as needing to use footpaths at the moment due to lack of infrastructure,” he said.

He said the majority of crashes, however, were happening while people were riding under the influence of alcohol or drugs and/or speeding.

Slater and Gordon QLD head of work and roads Peta Yujnovich said pedestrians weren’t protected by current laws.

“It depends on what type of scooter they are riding, the escooter and ebike companies will have public liability insurance. In those sort of circumstances there will be insurance that will cover them and compensate them,” she said.
“If it's a privately owned e-scooter or ebike, they would need to have their own public liability insurance, that's where it gets tricky.

A Transport and Mains Road spokesman said the Personal Mobility Device Safety Action Plan contains actions focused on improving the rules for riders.

“Banning e-scooters from footpaths would significantly limit their utility as footpaths are a vital connection between sections of dedicated bike infrastructure,” he said.

“The reduced 12km/h speed limit on footpaths recognises the importance of riding slowly and safely around pedestrians.

“There are no plans to ban e-scooters from footpaths.”