London politicians have warned of safety concerns after the government unveiled plans to let people use private e-scooters on public roads.
The government pledged this week to make legalising and regulating the use of e-scooters a priority for 2022 in the Queen’s Speech, the government’s programme of laws it wants to pass in the year.
A wide variety of e-scooters are seen around on London streets and pavements, despite only the TfL hire scooters being legal to use on public roads, and only in certain parts of the capital – including Southwark.
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat deputy chair of the London Assembly’s transport committee and former deputy leader of Southwark Council, warned that the government needed to bring in “tough regulatory standards” on the definition of a legal e-scooter. That should include an acceptable speed limit and safety measures like lights.
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“Most importantly it is vital that they remain illegal to be ridden on pavements and that the police properly enforce the law in this area,” she told the News in a written statement.
“The needs of pedestrians and especially blind people must not be overlooked.”
There have been several different safety concerns over e-scooters. Transport for London (TfL) banned them on its network in December after a series of “intense fires” caused by faulty lithium ion batteries.
The Houses of Parliament’s fire risk management team banned staff and MPs from bringing e-scooters and e-bikes into its buildings in January this year because of concerns about the batteries exploding. The email pointed that there had been 50 fires linked to e-scooters and e-bikes in London over the previous year. Despite this, there has been no official guidance from the government to local authorities on e-scooter fire safety.
E-scooter collisions – of which there were more than 250 in London in the first six months of 2021 alone – are causing a rise in serious injuries, which concerned a top King’s College surgeon, as we reported last year. Ash Vasireddy told the News that he “would never use an e-scooter” because of the risks involved.
Southwark has seen several collisions involving e-scooters, including one incident where a Rotherhithe man died after an alleged crash on Long Lane in Bermondsey. Other incidents include a young child being hospitalised after being seriously hurt by an e-scooter in a Camberwell park.
Some fifteen people have been seriously injured in the TfL e-scooter scheme, according to a report by the London Assembly’s transport committee published this week. But “it is hard to get meaningful data” on the number of injuries suffered by e-scooter users outside of the trial.
In addition, e-scooters are quiet, and are often ridden illegally on pavements, which is dangerous for pedestrians and especially blind people.
A spokesperson for the Royal National Institute of Blind People said: “E-scooters are fast-moving, operate quietly, making them difficult to detect, and are often ridden on pavements despite rules prohibiting this.
“Because of this, they pose particular risks for blind and partially sighted pedestrians.”
An argument in favour of wider legalising e-scooter riding is that it will allow the government to regulate e-scooters better and improve safety.
A government spokesperson said this week: “While riding a privately owned e-scooter on public land is currently illegal, we are considering how best to design future regulations and our Transport Bill will help us to take the steps we need to make e-scooters safer and support innovation.
“Safety will always be our top priority and our trials are helping us to better understand the benefits of properly regulated, safety-tested e-scooters and their impact on public space.”