Scooter death and injuries
Woman was injured by a Lime Scooter just hours after the death of a man riding one
Debra Christensen’s head was left bleeding and wedged against the wheel of a bus yesterday morning after she was knocked out by a Lime scooter rider near Auckland’s Victoria Park.
Her distraught husband, Paul Charman, spoke to the Herald about the terrifying incident from Auckland City Hospital’s emergency department.
The incident came less than 12 hours after a man riding a Lime scooter was killed on the same road.
Charman said his wife was rushed to hospital after she got off the bus on Fanshawe St, opposite Victoria Park, and was struck by the Lime scooter.
“She doesn’t remember what happened after that because she was knocked out cold.
“Her head was under the wheel of a bus, that’s how bad it was,” Charman said.
He said his wife, who is a keen mountain climber and adventurelover, had lacerations to her face and skull and they were awaiting head scans to see if there had been any further damage. It was possible she also had broken ribs.
Charman said the bus driver was so shaken by the incident he had to finish his shift.
A witness at the scene described seeing Christensen lying on the ground bleeding after being hit by a young person riding a Lime scooter.
“It is absolute madness to allow those things on footpaths — is it going to take the death of someone’s child
before they get banned?” the male witness said.
Charman said the crazy thing was when they got to hospital, another person was also there with head injuries after getting hit by a Lime scooter. “The cyclist was on Kingsland cycle path at 7.36am [yesterday] when he was hit from behind by an e-scooter.”
He said people should feel safe on footpaths, not scared they might be hit by a Lime scooter.
“They are unstable and we need a university to do a study to test their stability. This shouldn’t be happening,” Charman said.
St John confirmed they were called to the incident on Fanshawe St at 8.47am yesterday.
“We responded with one ambulance and transported one patient in a moderate condition to Auckland Hospital,” a spokeswoman said.
On Monday night, a 59-year-old man was killed while riding a Lime scooter along the same road.
It was the first fatal accident involving the controversial e-scooters in New Zealand.
Auckland councillor Christine Fletcher has called for “a complete review” of the e-scooters in a bid to introduce tighter safety regulations.
But Transport Minister Phil Twyford says it is too soon to say if the death of a man on a Lime scooter will prompt tighter e-scooter safety rules.
“I think it would be premature to make any comment about the circumstances of this incident or any implications it might have for safety regulation until we know more about what exactly happened.”
Twyford said his thoughts were with the family of the man who died.
The Government already has work under way on assessing the safety regulations of Lime and other such e-scooters, which is being led by Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter.
“That will include rules about where Lime scooters can be used in terms of speed limits,” Twyford said.
A Lime spokeswoman said the company was “devastated to learn of this tragic incident in Auckland overnight, and our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends during this extremely difficult time.”
She said the company had been in contact with local authorities and would continue to assist however possible.