‘Potential death trap’: Warning as e-scooter use soars

A top lawyer has warned of a road toll spike amid the soaring popularity of e-scooters, with hundreds of riders already caught flouting the law.

A lawyer has warned e-scooters are potential death traps. Picture: Julianne Osborne

A top public liability lawyer says she expects a high toll as rented e-scooters become more popular in central ­Melbourne.

New data shows more than 335,000 trips have been taken since February 1 in the CBD, as part of a year-long trial.

Safety concerns over the new mode of transport have risen amid reports from road authorities many riders are brazenly breaking the law while riding in the CBD.

Slater and Gordon public liability lawyer Lily Boskovski said the increase in rental trials as well as privately-owned scooters were likely to contribute to the road toll.

“E-scooters are potential death traps and anyone riding one or in the vicinity of someone who is riding one is at risk of serious harm,” she said.

“I cannot stress enough how dangerous these things are, so we should expect to hear about more tragedies moving forward.

“As long as e-scooters are sharing paths with pedestrians and being ridden illegally or foolishly, people are unfortunately going to continue to get hurt or killed.”

A man, 20, riding a private e-scooter was killed in Narre Warren on February 10 after he was struck by a car.

E-scooters are not allowed on footpaths, riders must wear helmets, and a 20km/h speed limit applies. But some e-scooters for sale can hit more than 80km/h.

Riders can use bike lanes, shared paths and roads with a speed limit of 50km/h or less.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp, revealing the number of trips taken in just six weeks, said: “Melburnians have taken to e-scooters in droves. Not only are shared e-scooters an enjoyable new way to get around, they’ve created up to 170 local jobs.”

Ms Capp said there had been a “small number” of vandalism cases involving the e-scooters, but Melbourne City Council was working with the operators to reduce that.

She said serious acts of vandalism including the dumping of e-scooters would be reported to police.

In the first two weeks of February, Victoria Police slapped more than 210 riders with fines for disobeying the law – including 94 for not wearing a helmet, 73 for using a private scooter on a public street, and 19 riders caught travelling on a footpath.