E-Scooters Melbourne: Riders speak of horror St Kilda road rage incident

Two mates almost mowed down while riding e-Scooters in St Kilda have opened up about the frightening incident that could have killed them.

An e-Scooter rider involved in a freak road rage incident in St Kilda have labelled the driver who almost mowed down him and his mates as a “coward”.

Glen Waverley’s Asad Syed and Doncaster’s Richard Fatileh were out with two other friends using the e-Scooters on St Kilda Rd when the incident happened about 10.40pm on Sunday, near the Botanic apartment complex.

CCTV footage of the incident showed the group of four riding e-Scooters toward the city, with the Ford driver suddenly swerving from the car lane into the bike lane.

The car comes within metres of striking the riders, who dump the e-Scooters and then run after the driver to try and chase them down.

The driver of the Ford later drives back in the opposite direction, destroying one of the eScooters, and then drives back towards the city and appears to make a second attempt at hitting the riders, accelerating towards the footpath.

No one was injured in the incident, and Mr Syed and Mr Fatileh said they were unsure what provoked the driver’s behaviour.

They disputed police allegations that they were in a verbal altercation with a mystery woman who was then picked up by the driver of the car.

“I was riding and out of nowhere I hear a car with loud revving coming from behind me,” Mr Fatileh said.

“I’ve seen him coming towards me, and I’ve just thrown the scooter and ran off.

“It was just mayhem man, we can’t really remember, just (a fight for) survival.”

Mr Syed described the driver’s behaviour as “a very cowardly act”.

“If the car hit us, someone would have died or been seriously hurt,” he said.

“They (the driver) didn’t want to deal with the situation like a real person would … just ran off like a coward.”

Both men said the incident was not going to stop them riding e-Scooters around Melbourne.

“We’re not gonna let anyone change our way of enjoying Melbourne,” Mr Syed said.

“If you do the right thing and you enjoy them, they (e-Scooters) are fantastic to use,” Mr Fatileh said.

Police attended the scene and are continuing to hunt for the driver of the yellow Ford to assist with their investigations.

Anyone with information or any witnesses can phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.