Minimum standards for hireable e-scooters should be considered: Road safety commissioner
Western Australia should consider setting minimum standards for hireable e-scooters, and regulating — rather than outlawing — bigger, faster devices, says the state's road safety commissioner.
The issue of regulating the e-rideables has been thrust into the spotlight after 51-year-old Thanh Phan was killed at the weekend after being struck by a hired e-scooter in the Perth CBD.
A 25-year-old UK tourist Alicia Kemp has been charged with causing death while driving dangerously under the influence of alcohol.
The City of Perth yesterday indefinitely suspended the hiring of e-scooters, a move welcomed by one of the state's top trauma surgeons.
Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner welcomed the move too, but told the ABC he believed other local governments should look at their own data before following suit.
He believes e-scooters could operate safely in the CBD with some additional technology.
"Modern devices are often equipped with cameras in-built into the device which can detect whether you've got a helmet on your head, can detect if you've got two people on the device, for example," he said.
Mr Warner suggested the City of Perth would be looking for those features as part of its tender for e-scooter providers, which closes later this month, after an initial two-year trial period ended earlier this year.
The commissioner said he would be talking to local governments about whether the state government should set minimum standards, such as those features, for hireable e-scooters.
"It may well be that creating a safer category of device that's raising the threshold helps local governments in terms of their tendering and their business licensing and gives good signals to the industry that you have to keep improving your safety standards," he said.
But Mr Warner, who said he rides e-scooters himself sometimes, said a fundamental risk remained, because there was no way of an e-scooter changing its speed limit depending on whether it was on the road or a footpath.
Nonetheless, he indicated he was supportive of regulating e-rideables in a way which kept people riding them, because he saw significant benefits in getting people out of cars.
A review of WA's e-scooter rules released last month found a "concerning" lack of compliance and made a number of recommendations — including reviewing the penalties for e-rideable offences.
It also suggested a closer look at whether larger, faster and heavier electric vehicles warranted their own category of regulation, rather than just being illegal because current rules treat all e-rideables similar to bicycles.
"There is a group of people who want to ride further and faster on bigger, heavier, more powerful devices," Mr Warner said.
"At what point do we look at these devices and say, look, they're not really so much like a bicycle as that we should treat them more like a motorcycle or a moped?
"What kind of driver licensing requirements will apply?
"They certainly need to address issues around registration and insurance, because that's another issue.
"People who are impacted by a crash at the moment, particularly if there's an unlawful behaviour, really have no recourse in terms of compensation except to take someone to court, now, that's out of the realm of possibilities for most people."
While Mr Warner said much of that depended on the Commonwealth looking at its import rules and vehicle safety standards, he believed there was appetite for the change.
He said "most jurisdictions" he'd spoken to agreed with that position, and that it would be discussed at a road safety meeting in Melbourne in coming weeks.
Police and Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby indicated on Friday he was not a fan of those e-rideables being available in Australia, especially given they are currently illegal.
'When I go see my fellow police ministers around the country, I'll be raising this issue … we need to ban the importation of very high-speed e-rideables,' he said.
Since e-rideables became regulated in late-2021, the Road Safety Commission said there had been nine fatalities involving the devices – five in WA in the past year-and-a-half, with two in the past two weeks.
Mr Warner acknowledged that trend was 'not good' and that compliance with the rules was an issue.
In response, he called for a 'balanced' approach between education and enforcement.
"I'm always surprised, with the amount of advertising we do, when we're doing targeted advertising, particularly on social media," he said.
"But people aren't understanding the rules.
"We've got to get that balance right, we need to keep doing a bit of enforcement, keep doing education, keep engaging with the community.
"And importantly, get that golden rule out, that is, if you're on a bike, if you're on a scooter, your job, the golden rule, is to not hit a pedestrian."
WA police said they would be "out in force" in Perth and Northbridge on Friday night, speaking to every e-scooter rider to either thank them for following the rules, or educating or fining those breaking them.
The road safety commissioner said police were doing an "appropriate" job of enforcement, while balancing their other priorities.
"Their enforcement activity has resulted in a shift in terms of the numbers of illegal devices that are being used so openly," he said.
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