Lime scooters for hire vandalised, left in dangerous locations
Brisbane’s new motorised scooters for hire have been vandalised and dumped in dangerous locations — but authorities are failing to closely monitor the trial program.
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NEWLY legalised electric scooters are set to infiltrate streets around the state, but authorities have failed to rigorously monitor them during the sole trial of their use.
The lack of reliable data about injuries, traffic infringments or vandalism since Lime Scooters were granted a permit to operate on Brisbane footpaths last month comes as lawyers warn that riders and authorities could face a string of lawsuits.
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Concerns have also been raised about scooters being vandalised and dumped in dangerous locations, posing a risk to pedestrians, cyclists and other scooter riders.
In New Zealand, hundreds of public insurance claims for injuries have already been lodged in two cities that allowed Lime to operate just a month before they hit Brisbane streets.
Shine Lawyers solicitor Sarah Grace said she expected the state’s decision last week to legalise the electric scooters would lead to increased uptake and more injuries.
“I just can’t see how people operating scooters on footpaths in Brisbane City is not going to result in pedestrian injuries especially as pedestrian aren’t going to be on the lookout for them,” she said.
She said potential lawsuits could target the rider, Lime Scooters, the State Government or local councils.
Bennett & Philp Lawyers injury compensation law specialist Trent Johnson said the Brisbane City Council should regulate speed limits on busy footpaths and where the scooters could be parked.
“At present, we are seeing users of the scooters weaving between pedestrians and I have no doubt that we will see accidents and injuries,” he said.
A Transport Department spokeswoman said authorities had been working for over 18 months to devise regulations for “electronic transport options”.
She also said it had worked closely with Lime Scooters to confirm compliance with its permit conditions, which run until December 31.
However she could not provide details about what had been monitored during the trial or the criteria used to determine if they were safe.
She said the department did not know how many infringements notices had been issued to electronic scooter riders since the trial started as there was a three-month lag in getting data from police.
A police spokesman referred The Courier-Mail back to the department.
A Queensland Ambulance spokeswoman said the organisation’s search parameters did not go into enough detail to provide information on the number of patients involved in scooter incidents.
A spokesman for the Brisbane City Council said a tender process for a company to operate a scooter hire scheme would open next year.
But he refused to detail how many complaints had been made to council since the rentable scooters started operating or the nature of any complaints.
“There have been several queries per day received by council about e-scooters on a range of matters but no reports to council of any injuries,” he said.
He said regulation was a matter for the State Government to be enforced by police.
A spokeswoman for Lime Scooters did not respond to a series of emailed questions.
The company had previously said Brisbane residents had “embraced” the service.
More than 50,000 trips were recorded in the first two weeks of operation with the company putting hundreds of scooters out for riders.
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