E-scooters will play warning sounds
Audio effects to be added to prevent dangers of blind people not hearing the approach of silent riders
ELECTRIC scooters will be fitted with speakers in an attempt to prevent pedestrians being hit by silent riders.
Warning sounds will be emitted from the scooters from next year after a number of groups, including the National Federation of the Blind, expressed their concerns at the new technology. It is understood that the sound is likely to be some sort of electronically generated engine noise or a constant pulse, but will have to be distinctive to mark the vehicle out as an electric scooter.
The Government legalised e-scooters in July as part of emergency measures to give people more transport options during the pandemic, when public transport networks were running at reduced capacity.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, brought forward a planned roll-out of e-scooter trials from next year, and up to 20 cities are expected to have launched trials by the end of 2021.
But a year-long trial in Coventry was suspended after just five days because people were riding them on pavements.
Some 200 e-scooters were deployed in the Midlands, in the UK’S biggest trial of its kind in September, but Coventry City Council “paused” the scheme amid reports they were being used in pedestrianised areas.
The scooters are limited to 15.5mph and can be used only on 30mph roads and in bike lanes, but there has been a number of violations of these terms of use.
Coventry residents reported the scooters being ridden on pavements and in the city centre, travelling the wrong way down roads and having near misses with members of the public.
Tier Mobility, the German electric kick-scooter company, operates the vehicles in York and 80 other cities across the world. The Times reports that they will add sounds to them next year.
Fred Jones, Tier’s UK general manager, told the newspaper: “E-scooters offer lots of benefits to UK cities, but they must be introduced in a considered way, working in harmony with local communities and accounting for the concerns of people with visual impairment.”
The Thomas Pocklington Trust, a charity dedicated to enabling and empowering blind and partially sighted people, has been consulted on the plans. Charles Colquhoun, the chief executive, praised Tier for “responding to the concerns that the introduction of silent, heavy and fast e-scooters represents a real danger to blind and partially sighted people”.
However, Sarah Gayton, sharedspace co-ordinator at the National Federation of the Blind of the UK, warned: “Adding a noise will not ensure the safety of pedestrians. It is the uncontrollable behaviour of the e-scooter riders and the serious limitations of the e-scooter technology which are at the heart of the problem.”