Editorial: Time for e-scooter crackdown on WA footpaths

How many more accidents involving e-scooters are we going to witness before the laws around their use are tightened?

Just last week shocking CCTV footage emerged of a grandmother being knocked to the ground by a speeding e-scooter on a footpath in East Victoria Park.

The elderly woman was taken to hospital after she was bowled over and flung several metres down the street, along with the male rider and his vehicle.

In May, St John WA revealed paramedics were being called out to at least 15 accidents a month involving e-scooters.

Data from Royal Perth Hospital showed the number of people needing emergency medical treatment for e-scooter crashes surged more than 500 per cent in the past five years.

We have also recently seen horrific pictures of a young girl sent flying into the air when a man travelling at more than 40km/h hit her in the middle of a North Coogee footpath. And there was the heartbreaking story earlier this year of a 13-year-old boy who died after he and a car collided while he was riding an e-scooter.

It is clear the public want action on their use because the infringements and warnings being issued by authorities aren’t cutting through to riders.

An online poll by PerthNow showed overwhelming support to ban e-scooters from footpaths — a move the Government needs to seriously consider.

In The West Australian today we bring you a new report by researchers from Charles Darwin University and University of New England that found e-scooters were “invading the footpath in numerous cities in Australia” at a high-risk of colliding with, and causing injury to, vulnerable pedestrians.

The report authors argued that allowing e-scooters to cohabit the footpath with pedestrians demonstrated a policy choice by governments that had turned the footpath into the Wild West — the survival of the fittest. They concluded that authorities should intervene to reset the balance in favour of the pedestrian.

In WA, e-scooters must not exceed speeds of 10km/h on footpaths. But on shared and bicycle paths, and on local roads where the speed limit is 50km/h or less, they are allowed to reach speeds of 25km/h.

While there are rules around their use, the rising number of injuries highlights that they aren’t always followed and it’s becoming an increasing issue in the community.

The e-scooter study, published in the Alternative Law Journal, said the “cheap, convenient, flexible and practical” form of transportation was a “green” solution to reducing road traffic and emissions, but action needed to be taken regarding their use on footpaths.

There is a place for e-scooters and it’s understandable they are becoming a popular form of transport.

But their use does not mix with pedestrians and the Government needs to address this urgently to stop the rising number of injuries, and unfortunate deaths.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie