RUNAWAY SCOOTERS Inside the craze
E-scooter near misses and ACC claims prompt hire company to announce urgent education measures
Electric scooters have zoomed on to city streets — and some pedestrians and road users are demanding controls on the unregulated machines. At least 14 people have made ACC injury claims since the scooters appeared in droves last week. Auckland Council plans an urgent safety review, and e-scooter giant Lime — which says it has 1000 machines in Auckland and Christchurch
— intends to hold a
“rider safety summit”.
Global electric scooter giant Lime is racing to improve its safety measures as authorities and the public raise concerns about the latest craze.
More than 40,000 people have used the distinctive green e-scooters in Christchurch and Auckland since they were launched a week ago.
In that time, at least 14 people have filed an ACC injury claim.
Yesterday, the Auckland Council announced it would review the safety of the e-scooters after councillor Christine Fletcher was almost “taken out” by one at a pedestrian crossing.
Lime has announced a Rider Safety Summit will be held within the next week to educate riders about responsible usage.
Spokesman Hank Rowe confirmed NZ Lime representatives were working with local authorities in the two cities and in discussions with the NZ Transport Agency, Auckland Transport and Christchurch City Council.
“We are taking on board concerns that have been raised about the safety of riders and pedestrians.”
Herald readers were quick to back the news Auckland Council was seeking urgent advice on the safety of the e-scooters, sharing similar stories of their near misses.
A woman said her family would not be using them again after an accident involving her 8-year-old son at the weekend. She, her husband and two children were at the Viaduct when her son asked to have a go on the e-scooter his father had rented.
“He was having a brilliant time until [a toddler] on a normal scooter crossed in front of his path and my son was going too fast to stop properly.”
The youngster lost control and fell off the e-scooter, badly injuring a knee and hitting his head so hard it left a long dent in his helmet, made by a sharp corner of the wharf barrier. “It would have cracked his head open if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet. Five days later, I still have thoughts on what could have happened.” Another woman said: “I was crossing a footpath on Symonds St when a student sped past me — so close that I felt the wind whip up around me, and abruptly stopped me in my tracks.
“I’m pregnant and, had he been any closer and hit me, he could have severely hurt me and my baby.” Resident John Macgillivray said road rules needed to be updated to cope with the new form of transport. He recently saw an incident in which an elderly blind woman was walking on Dominion Rd when two teenage girls on e-scooters rushed past her — so close they knocked her support cane out of her hand.
“They didn’t stop to check, just sped away. Needless to say, the blind woman was visibly distressed.”
Geoff Creighton said his 82-yearold mother was getting off a bus on Jervois Rd when an e-scooter shot past her by the kerb, just as she was about to put her foot down on the footpath.
“Another few inches and I’d have had a broken leg at least,” she told him.
E-scooter users have come to their own defence, pointing out that people need to be responsible.
One long-time user, in his 50s, said that responsibility also fell on companies who rolled out the huge fleet of e-scooters in a short time without properly educating people how to use them.