Limerick gardaí roll out new way to police e-scooters
In Limerick city, gardaí are rolling out a new way of policing electric scooters.
Portable dynamometers come in two parts, look like a mini treadmill, and measure around 1.5 metres in length. They measure the speed of e-scooters - with 20km/h the maximum allowed.
At a recent checkpoint on Bishop's Quay, a rider was flagged down by members of the Garda Roads Policing Unit, and her e-scooter was rolled up onto the new machine.
Within a minute, it was deemed to be in compliance, and the woman is back on the road.
However, a bigger model fails the test and is seized.
"It goes up to 47km/h," said Garda Philip Ellard, who is conducting the test.
"It's very fast. If you had an accident on this, you'd have serious injuries. It's like being on the equivalent of a small moped.
"The limit is 20 km/h, anything that exceeds that can't be used on any roads for any reason," he said.
Watch: Limerick gardaí roll out new way to police e-scooters
Inspector Padraig Sutton is in charge of the checkpoint.
"There's lots of e-scooters around Limerick city. Once they conform to the rules, they're a very useful tool for moving around. However, there are quite a number of people who use illegal ones," he said.
"Unfortunately in this jurisdiction, we've had serious injury collisions and also fatalities as a result of e-scooter use," he said.
There are now four dynamometers used by the Garda Roads Policing Unit across the country and they have been in use for the last two months.
"It's been an excellent device for us, because prior to now, it's very difficult for us to estimate with any accuracy the speed of in of an e-bike or an e-scooter, other than actually using a laser speed device."
"So, it's a very useful and portable machine that we're getting good use of here in the Limerick division", he said.
"Officers can seize an e-scooter and they can bring it back to the station where we can test it, or we can take it out to different parts of the county and set it up and have a mobile checkpoint and target those who are using our roads illegally with devices that really shouldn't be on roads," Inspector Sutton said.
The number of e-scooters seized by gardaí has increased dramatically since the introduction of new regulations around their use. The number jumped from 26 to 130 for the five months of this year compared to last.
The data also shows that there have been 406 fines given to riders since the new rules were introduced.
The laws mean that using an e-scooter to carry goods or passengers, driving on a footpath, or when on a mobile phone all now attract garda Fixed Charge Notices (FCNs) of €50. Other infringements are also included.
The challenge for gardaí will be trying to keep up with the number of e-scooters on the roads.
Research from the Road Safety Authority suggests that their number will double in the next year. Currently, it is estimated around 4% of adults own one.
"It can be a very good way of travelling, particularly around cities. However, we're also seeing a lot of incidents, crashes and collisions," said David Martin from the RSA.
"They're growing in popularity. But clearly, there's an issue in terms of safety, and it's something that we are concerned about," he said, adding that the research the RSA commissioned indicates that one in four have had a crash in the last 12 months, and one in three have had a near miss.
The RSA, he said, welcomes the roll out of the new dynamometers.
"We welcome this initiative today and think it's a tremendous development.
"The speed limit of 20 km/h - very difficult for the gardaí to have checked that in the past. So, this new development really is welcome," he said.
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