The new report in this article by PACTs finds that 15 people have died in e-scooter related incidents.
They also found hospitals treating increasing numbers of people with severe head injuries.
I’ve been told this by hospital consultants too.
There are already concerns about the lithium ion batteries.
The number of e-scooter fires doubled last year, as shown by my own research.
Fire and rescue services are already giving safety advice on them.
Due to a lack of provision, people are riding them on pavements, roads and cycle lanes.
The hire devices are being left to clutter the pavements. This is particularly dangerous for vulnerable pedestrians.
Due to the vast increase in private e-scooters being ridden illegally in public, there’s more seizures taking place. And they’re dealing with criminal and antisocial use of the hire schemes.
Limiting speeds won’t work.
As with any electronic device, they are easily tampered with. So how do you ensure that every device is safe, and hasn’t been modified? Will speed checks be necessary to monitor limits?
Videos show that some firms are allegedly not keeping the devices road safe already.
On safety grounds alone, the e-scooter experiment needs to stop.
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