Brisbane nurse’s push to ban e-scooters after horror crash

A Brisbane nurse left with horrific injuries after crashing her rental e-scooter while on her way to work has made a desperate plea for authorities to ban rental e-scooters. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Dealing with the physical and emotional scars of two horrific crashes, a Brisbane woman has made a desperate plea for authorities to ban e-scooters before there are “more deaths” across the city.

Paula McLeister may be impacted for the rest of her life after crashing her rental e-scooter while on her way to work in October last year, leaving her bloodied, unconscious and hospitalised and still without the full use of her hands, hindering her work as a nurse.

Brisbane nurse Paula McLeister is calling for the Brisbane City Council to ban rental e-scooters. Picture: Liam Kidston

Mrs McLeister, 48, suffered serious injuries, including a small brain haemorrhage, in the crash and spent three months off work, having two hand surgeries in the process.

But all the horror from her ordeal came flooding back when she attended to a man who suffered serious head injuries after crashing his rental e-scooter while she and her husband were having breakfast at a cafe in West End on Sunday.

The man remains in hospital and is in a stable condition.

“It took me a long time initially to get my head around it because I was dealing with the surgery and the rehab side of it and trying to get my life back,” Mrs McLeister said.

Paula McLeister after her crash in October, 2023.

Pictures: Supplied

“I hear people complaining about it, and I was one of those people, but I don’t see real action being taken.

“Seeing that poor man (on Sunday), I just thought something needs to be done because no family should be sitting in ICU with someone with a massive brain injury, and that’s if they pull through.

“It does give you a lot of flashbacks, like (Sunday) was quite tough.

“I was just like, ‘I need to do something, I need to speak out’.”

Mrs McLeister said people did not realise how much e-scooters could turn someone’s life “upside down”.

“That’s if you’re still there to tell the story,” she said.

“Some people, they’ve either died or had such traumatic brain injuries that they can’t tell the stories themselves.

“We haven’t had scooters for that long ... we’ve had bikes, we’ve had motorbikes but we’re well versed on that we have to wear helmets, and from when we’re little kids it’s like you put the helmet on and they ride a bike.

“But e-scooters, everyone is jumping on them ... the hire ones you go into the Valley on the weekend (and) people are drunk, they’re hopping on two at a time.

“I also see children on them. There’s not supposed to be kids, you go to South Bank and you see kids on them, so obviously the parents are getting them for the kids.

“I just don’t think they understand.”

According to the Department of Transport and Main Roads 13 lives have been lost since 2018 while the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit revealed there had been 3305 serious injuries between January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2023.

Statistics show injuries from e-scooters have risen rapidly since 2019, with presentations at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital increasing from 250 to more than 400 in 2023.

Jointly funded research between RACQ and the RBWH Foundation conducted by the Jamieson Trauma Institute and released in December last year, found 63 per cent of presentations to QISU emergency departments were male.

It also showed more than 50 per cent of patients suffered head and facial injuries, indicating some users were not wearing helmets.

While rules in Queensland include the mandatory wearing of helmets and speed limits of 12km/h on footpaths and 25km/h on roads for e-scooters, Mrs McLeister believed rental e-scooters should be banned “full stop”.

“They shouldn’t be able to be used unless a helmet is engaged on the head and clicked in, there has to be that technology if they want them,” she said.

“Personally, ban the rental ones ... If you have your own personal one at least people are maintaining them, whereas these rental ones, they’re just trashed, so I believe they should just be banned, full stop.”

Melbourne became the latest city to ban rental e-scooters, voting on the decision last month.

Owner of City Limits Cafe at West End, Lawrence Nasser, agreed with the call to ban e-scooters.

“I’ve had one customer die on one of them,” he said.

“Get rid of them or have more education or restrictions on using them or it will continue to happen.”

RACQ’s Joel Tucker.

But RACQ’s road safety and technical manager, Joel Tucker, said there were other solutions to increased injuries on e-scooters.

“We actually have a lot of existing rules around the use of these mobility devices but they need to be better enforced,” he said.

“Even if we banned e-scooters, which RACQ doesn’t agree with, then that would also be reliant on that ban being enforced.

“The crackdowns law enforcement has at certain times are good but they need to be more spread out and consistent.”

Mr Tucker also said there were other preventative measures which could be taken, such as wearing full face helmets opposed to traditional helmets, and also looking at better design options, including a seat, a wider platform and bigger wheels for these e-scooters.

A Brisbane City Council spokeswoman said there were no plans to change Brisbane’s shared e-mobility network and the overall responsibility for the rules regarding e-scooters and e-bikes sat with the State Government.

Mrs McLeister said something needed to be done before it was too late.

“I think (something needs to be done) immediately. They need to jump on it, it’s not something you can sit back and just wait until these stats keep coming and coming,” she said.

“(The result will be) more deaths, young and old, just deaths and serious injury.

“Our emergency departments are under so much pressure ... any ED you go into there’s these huge, long waits and there’s all these unnecessary presentations from these rental scooters.”

Transport and Main Roads Minister Bart Mellish did not answer whether the State Government was reviewing the use of e-scooters but said any accident on Queensland roads was concerning.

Minister for Transport Bart Mellish. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“All road users are reminded to take care and riders should always wear a helmet,” he said.

TMR implemented a package of new road rules in November, 2022, including a new footpath speed limit of 12km/h, tougher penalties for dangerous behaviours and expanded access to include some on-road bike lanes.

According to TMR, police have issued more than 5000 infringements to riders since.

These infringements included violations for not wearing a helmet, speeding, carrying passengers, riding on major roads and a variety of other offences, such as failing to give way, obey signs and traffic lights where offenders have faced fines or even court dates.

A TMR spokesman said the Queensland Government supported the use of Personal Mobility Devices (PMD) including e-scooters, provided they are used in a safe and respectful manner.

“There are no plans to ban PMDs in Brisbane areas,” he said.

“As with any new technology, there is a need to continually review and adapt our approach to managing the safety of PMDs in Queensland.

“In recent years, the boom in both shared e-scooter schemes and personal ownership of PMDs has created some safety issues as PMD riders share a range of infrastructure with other road and path users.

“The reforms undertaken throughout 2022 aimed to understand the relevant safety issues from a variety of perspectives and develop a balanced approach to making improvements in the future.

“Most general road rules also apply to PMD riders, for example rules relating to giving way, traffic lights, indicating, and traffic signs and markings.”

The TMR spokesman said all injuries were tragic and they were very conscious that behind the numbers are people and families whose lives are forever changed.

“It’s not rocket science, if you wear a helmet (and strap it) and stick to the speed limits, you will significantly reduce the risk of coming off and being injured,” he said.

“The stats aren’t showing significant volumes of pedestrians being injured, but we’re very aware that everyone has a right to feel safe when moving about and our focus has been on improving the safety of interactions between e-mobility devices and pedestrians.

“While the injury stats are concerning, we really need to understand how this compares to usage. In the last few years usage has exploded across Queensland and we need a reliable measure of usage to truly understand injury trends.”

Dr Richard Buning from the University of Queensland said the vast majority of residents and visitors believed e-scooters improved the Brisbane experience.

“In our research of nearly 1000 random people intercepted on the street in Brisbane, only one-third of the non-users of e-scooters thought the devices were a nuisance,” he said.

“The accidents are not as common as the media and public believes, research tell us bicycle accidents occur at similar rates with more severe injuries.

“We do see lower helmet use with shared scooters, but helmet use has dramatically increased over the last two years with the introduction of the Bluetooth helmet lock, now standard on all shared scooter vehicles and invented in Brisbane. One study from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents claims e-scooters are five times safer to ride then bicycles.

“Contextualising these stories is key, the frequency and severity of automobile accidents is far worse. In Queensland 2024, 83 drivers and 34 automobile passengers along with 52 motorcyclists have died, compared to four e-scooter users.”

Dr Buning said the answer was better safety education for users

“Most do not know the rules, and information is not provided at points of sale for private devices and easily bypassed on the shared providers apps,” he said.

“Further, separated e-scooter and cycling infrastructure is the best solution to give users a safe place to ride.”

A range of safety rules apply to PMD riders, including (penalty in brackets):

• Minimum rider age 16 years, or 12 years if supervised by an adult ($161)

• No passengers ($161)

• Mandatory helmet use, either bicycle or motorcycle helmet ($161)

• Speed limits ($161 to $645 depending on speed over the limit): 12km/h on footpaths and shared paths, unless otherwise signed, 25km/h on bike paths, bike lanes and roads

• Mobile phone use prohibited ($1,209)

• Cannot drink alcohol while riding ($483)

Originally published as Brisbane nurse’s push to ban e-scooters after horror crash