Paramedics attend to man struck down by e-scooter in Bondi as high-speed toys sweep Australia’s streets

A pedestrian sprawled out on the asphalt in Bondi has become the latest flashpoint in a debate that has a lot of Aussies fuming.

A pedestrian sprawled out on the asphalt after being hit by an electric scooter in Bondi has become the latest flashpoint in Australia’s ongoing debate over electric scooter and bike safety.

The crash, which took place Monday night near Bondi Beach, had paramedics rushing to the scene to treat a man in his 30s who had been struck.

The 41-year-old scooter rider walked away uninjured but was subject to a roadside drug test. NSW Police confirmed they are investigating the incident.

Locals reacted quickly, with some in an online community group branding e-scooter riders as “feral” and others calling for an outright ban.

The accident has added to growing concerns in Australia about how e-scooters and their e-bike counterparts fit into the country’s increasingly crowded urban transport networks.

While they’re billed as a greener alternative, their rapid rise has been anything but smooth.

E-scooters have become a common sight in major cities in recent year, thanks to ride-share companies like Lime and Neuron. But with that boom has come a spike in accidents.

In Queensland alone, e-scooter-related injuries jumped by 25 per cent between 2022 and 2023, according to the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit. Fatalities have also been recorded.

A pedestrian sprawled out on the asphalt after being hit by an electric scooter in Bondi has become the latest flashpoint in Australia’s ongoing debate over e-scooter safety.

Dashcam footage from last year captured a heart-stopping near-miss between a truck and an e-scooter rider, serving as yet another example of how risky behaviour — on both sides of the equation — can have serious consequences.

One of the most common infractions Aussies are being busted with is riding without a helmet, which can set riders back $410 in NSW and $161 in Queensland.

And while e-scooters might be smaller than cars, the penalties for reckless riding can be just as severe — riders caught intoxicated actually risk losing their driver’s licence.

Some are pushing for harsher consequences for reckless riders, arguing that penalties should mirror those for cars and motorbikes.

While they’re billed as a greener alternative, their rapid rise has been anything but smooth.

Safety concern over batteries

The safety around the high-powered batteries locked inside has also been a concern.

Last month, Fire and Rescue NSW warned of an alarming spike in lithium-ion battery fires after responding to four separate e-bike and e-scooter fires in Sydney within the past 12 hours.

It brought the total number of battery-related fires across the state to 11 in the space of a week.

The latest incident occurred after an explosion and fire involving an e-scooter battery at a house in Sadlier in Sydney’s southwest left two men injured.

On arrival, firefighters found an e-scooter battery had exploded and caught fire, and two men had sustained injuries – one from flying shrapnel and the other from burns and smoke inhalation.

Another tragic incident saw 21-year-old man killed in a house fire suspected to be a lithium battery blaze in Sydney’s west.

Haidar Ali was killed in the incident which was sparked by his bike’s electric battery catching ablaze inside his bedroom.

The food delivery bike itself was found outside the home.

The batteries have been known to explode. Picture: FRNSW

Australia’s largest general insurer IAG is now leading a global consortium to establish safety guidelines when dealing with lithium-ion batteries.

It will bring together local researchers and international experts in a bid to properly address the boon in the use of the batteries in everything from electric vehicles, e-scooters and household devices.

“This year, the sales of EVs, including plug-in hybrids made up nearly 10 per cent of all new car sales in Australia, while e-bikes now represent one-third of all bicycle sales,” IAG’s Research Centre Head Shawn Ticehurst said.

“This research will provide critical insights on how to safely store, handle and dispose of the increasing number of lithium-ion batteries as they reach the end of their life, helping to prevent incidents that pose a risk to life and property safety,” Mr Ticehurst said.

Parents worried: ‘Children are driving them’

Parents have been taking to Facebook to claim that e-bikes were actually “small vehicles that look like heavy-duty pushbikes.”

“Like other motorbikes, they have twist throttles and no pedalling is required to make them move. Some are more powerful than is legal, reaching 40km/hr. And children are driving them,” the woman wrote.

She said the “problem” was that the bikes were being “driven at speed by children, without rider’s licences/lessons, often without helmets, and on public footpaths/through parks.”

Other parents flooded her post with their concerns, claiming it was only a matter of time before an “innocent driver will need to live with the consequence of seriously hurting or killing a child on one of these.”

“Getting these things off footpaths and pedestrian areas would be a good start,” wrote one man.

“I’m less concerned about the riders of these things hurting themselves but more about everyone else who is at risk of getting hit by these things travelling at speed.

“I’ve seen too many near misses, especially with small children.”

Originally published as Paramedics attend to man struck down by e-scooter in Bondi as high-speed toys sweep Australia’s streets