Escooter ACC claims hit $5.3m
WELLINGTON: Escooter injuries increased in November, ACC reporting 219 new claims, or 27 more than in the previous month.
Along with 611 active claims, that meant the stateowned accident insurer racked up another $491,000 in escooterrelated payouts, taking its tally since Lime launched in New Zealand in October 2018 to $5.3 million. During the 14month period, ACC has dealt with 3850 escooter claims.
Some of those will apply to privately owned escooters (ACC does not provide a breakdown), but total costs back in October 2018 ($3489) indicate that rideshare services have accounted for most of ACC's bill (which does not include A&E or treatment at public hospitals, which is bulk funded. One study found Auckland Hospital's escooterrelated acute surgery costs were $360,000 from Lime's launch on October 15, 2018, to February 22, 2019, as escooters caused more serious injuries than motorbikes).
Despite various publicity efforts concerning escooter safety, consistently there have been about 200 new injuries a month on ACC's books. Monthly costs are about $500,000.
December stats, still in the works, should show a drop. Auckland Council ordered Lime off Auckland streets on November 29 after it failed to make the cut for the first official sixmonth escooter licensing period, which runs through to June 3.
And it took until midJanuary for newcomers Jump by Uber, Beam and Neuron to get their hardware on the city's streets.
But now that they have arrived, ACC's bill could spike.
That is because Auckland Council upped its cap on rideshare escooters from 1875 to 3200 as it introduced its first licence.
That is a problem, because while more cycle lanes are being built, construction is still very much a work in progress. Meantime, pedestrians still have to play dodge 'em.
And while the council has been able to make speed limits and curfews in some locations a condition of its new licences, it does not have the legal power to compel people to wear helmets or order escooters off footpaths or clean up the messy rules concerning escooters in shared lanes (escooters can at present be legally ridden in a ‘‘separated’’ cycle lane, but not one that is created with painted lines — not that any agency is enforcing it).
It was July last year when Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter, who has the safety brief, first said the Government would consult on an update to our laws around micromobility transport. Supposedly, before the end of 2019.
Approached again by The New Zealand Herald this month, Ms
Genter said a discussion paper would go to Cabinet ‘‘soon’’. It would be followed by public discussion.
In the meantime, we have only gone backwards, in regulatory terms. As Brian Rudman revealed, the NZ Transport Agency quietly gazetted to absolve itself of responsibility for escooters on footpaths on the eve of Lime's launch.
We will get there. As commuters are keenly aware, a lot of new micromobility infrastructure is being put in place. The Cabinet will eventually stir into action and clean up the rules and we will see safer, more enjoyable scooting.
Until then, taxpayers continue picking up ACC's tab of about $500,000 per month. — The New Zealand Herald