Push for tougher regulations as serious injuries from e-scooter accidents soar

Victoria Police has vowed to tackle dangerous e-scooter driving after the extent of life-threatening injuries suffered by riders and pedestrians was revealed.

Victoria Police has vowed to crack down on dangerous e-scooter driving in the wake of alarming new figures that prompted trauma doctors to call for tougher regulations.

The Herald Sun revealed that life-threatening injuries ­resulting from e-scooter accidents have almost quadrupled in just a year on Friday.

E-scooter and e-bike-related admissions to the state’s trauma centre have doubled from 24 in 2020-21 to 49 in 2021-22, while the number of people needing intensive care ­almost quadrupled over that same period.

Victoria Police’s Acting Assistant Commissioner of Road Policing Justin Goldsmith said the force woulf beef up its presence ahead of an expected increase in e-scooter demand in the coming months.

“We’re going to be running some dedicated operations in the next couple of months to ensure that compliance improves.” Assistant Commissioner Goldsmith said.

“We’ll have more of a strong presence, particularly coming into the football finals and school holidays over September.”

Assistant Commissioner Goldsmith said the force would have a strong focus on Melbourne’s CBD where there is a strong risk of collisions between pedestrians and bicycles.

But despite the surge in life-threatening accidents from e-scooters, Assistant Commissioner Goldsmith said Victoria Police “were happy with the regulations as they are in place.” He argued that riders must accept full responsibility for their actions on the road.

“There really isn’t any excuse for not complying with regulations,” he said.

Experts say our spaces are not designed to be shared with e-scooters. Picture: Jason Edwards

It comes after alarm among medics and police about a wider increase in serious road accidents following the end of Melbourne’s lockdowns, with admissions to intensive care surging by a third from pre-pandemic levels.

Data reveals pedestrians are bearing the brunt of declining driving standards, with a 60 per cent increase in admissions to intensive care in the past year and deaths ­already well above the annual average this year.

Having seen a dramatic rise in patients with severe brain and other injuries following e-scooter crashes, The Alfred hospital’s acting director of trauma services Joseph Mathew said he was desperate to see regulations that matched their increasing popularity.

“The problem is some people are using vehicles designed to go at 30km/h on pedestrian paths and, because there is no policing of it, there’s no regulations around it,” Professor Mathew said.

“People are not wearing helmets and a lot of people are drug and alcohol affected, doing bar hopping on them on the weekend or during weekdays.

“They just get thrown and get pole-axed on to the ground. They’ve got severe spinal injuries, pelvic injuries and brain injuries.”

Police say it’s common to see e-scooter riders not wearing helmets. Picture: NCA NewsWire

While an in-depth review of e-scooter injuries is being compiled, Professor Mathew said their sudden and unplanned introduction caused public health problem.

Road safety experts were not being consulted by scooter designers, he said.

“And our spaces at the ­moment are not designed to share a new transport ­modality,” he said.

“If we have regulations ­related to alcohol, intoxication and driving or drug testing, why are we not having something the same for an e-scooter rider or an e-­bicycle rider?

“We have just introduced something without any (regulations) at all and it is going to be a recipe for disaster as more people adopt it.”

Victoria Police officers attended 131 crashes involving e-scooters in seven months up to July 31, 2022, while also issuing 397 infringement notices for riding on footpaths, not wearing helmets or carrying more than one person.

Medics are calling for tougher regulations for e-bicycles. Picture: David Crosling

With people regularly flouting the rules, Acting Assistant Commissioner Road Policing Justin Goldsmith said it was vital e-scooter riders knew and obeyed them.

“Too often we’re seeing riders not wearing helmets, using a privately owned e-scooter illegally and riding on the footpath,” he said.

Assistant Commissioner Goldsmith said the growing number of pedestrian deaths and injuries was also of “enormous concern”.

Already this year 29 pedestrians have been killed in Victoria – more than the 28 killed in the entire 2021, and well above the annual average of 23.6 pedestrian fatalities.

A further 66 pedestrians ended up in The Alfred’s intensive care unit with life-threatening injuries between July 2021 and June 2022, far above the average of 40 critically ill pedestrians sent to the ICU from 2018 to 21.

“The fact we’ve surpassed pedestrian deaths for all of last year is truly tragic,” Assistant Commissioner Goldsmith said. “Inattention is a key factor in pedestrian fatalities. Motorists need to remain focused behind the wheel and pedestrians need to look up, pay attention to the road and ensure it’s safe to cross before doing so.”