E-bikes and e-scooter riders causing chaos need a crackdown
E-diots are putting not just themselves but other road users at risk on e-scooters and e-bikes. See the latest example
Gold Coast
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These e-diots will be the death of us.
That is, if they don’t kill themselves first.
Driving southbound along a bustling Bundall Road on Thursday afternoon, frantic movement in my rearview mirror caught my eye.
Perched on an e-scooter was a boy, perhaps all of 17, dressed in shorts and t-shirt with obligatory eshay sidebag, zigzagging between the boundaries of the lane while maintaining an approximate four-inch distance behind my bumper.
With no helmet to cover his rat-tail hair-do, but AirPods firmly tucked into his ears, he was mouthing along to lyrics while ‘dancing’ in the streets … at 70km/h.
I was terrified the kid was going to ride right into me, giving a new meaning to break-dance, but he soon swerved into the next lane … and immediately began tailgating the next car.
My son grabbed my phone and tried to snap a photo as we were both incredulous, not only was this child endangering other drivers, but he was literally on the road to ruin. At this speed and with no protective gear at all, one wrong move and he would be lucky to make it to hospital.
Stopping at the Ashmore Road intersection, a postie on his own bike rode up to the boy and tried to get him off the street but to no avail.
You just can’t fix stupid.
And that’s the real problem here, because while there are rules against this road behaviour, the proliferation of e-bikes and e-scooters means every e-diot now has access.
It’s such a shame as I’m a huge fan of these e-vehicles, and believe they can play a real part in taking traffic off the roads.
I love my daggy Aldi e-bike, it’s perfect for ducking to the shops and beach. With a maximum 25km/h speed it’s not without risk, but with a helmet and good road sense - I ride in bike lanes only, it’s too fast for a footpath - it’s a calculated risk.
The problem is that while Queensland road rules state that electric bike and scooter motors should cut out at 25kmh, it’s incredibly easy to hack the e-vehicle to reach speeds of more than 60kmh (see: the kid on Bundall Road).
What’s incredibly difficult is policing this. Especially as you don’t need a licence to ride an electric bike and they don’t need registration or compulsory third-party insurance.
Perhaps it’s time for that to change.
Just over a year ago, Queensland introduced new rules regarding Personal Mobility Devices like e-scooters to bring them into line with cycling laws, with users allowed to ride in bike lanes on roads with a speed limit of 50kmh or less, as well as on-road bike lanes that were physically separated.
Riders were also required to follow general road rules, including stopping at red lights and using a bell.
Dangerous offences now incur fines such as up to $575 for speeding, up to $143 for not wearing a helmet, up to $1078 for using a phone, $143 for double riding and $173 for riding on a prohibited road.
The rules were introduced as doctors reported seeing an increase in “catastrophic” and “life-changing” injuries from PMD accidents, with 716 ED presentations related to e-scooters at 20 emergency departments across Queensland in just a six-month period last year.
Meanwhile, statistics from Queensland’s Injury Surveillance Unit showed a six-fold increase over the past three-and-a-half years in the number of children presenting at the state’s emergency departments. In 12 months, 88 children were treated for head, neck and limb injuries as a result of falls and crashes on PMDs, compared to 14 children in 2019 when data collection began.
Given these increasing casualties, it could be time to make a new legislative space for e-scooters and e-bikes, somewhere between vehicles and bicycles.
PMDs should follow the same rules as cyclists, but given the propensity and frequency with which users are doing the wrong thing in terms of speed and road use, perhaps it’s time to introduce regulation such as that required of cars in the shape of insurance and registration.
The fact is that e-bikes and e-scooters are using the infrastructure made for cyclists, but are capable of the damage caused by cars, and that should be reflected in their responsibilities.
It’s time to run these e-diots off the road.
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