Big new electric scooter review underway

The WA government will launch a statewide investigation into the safety of electric bikes and scooters in response to growing community concern.
The government will set up a bipartisan Parliamentary Committee to find ways to strengthen the safety and regulation of the 'e-rideables'.
The state has had four fatalities involving e-rideables since the start of the year, including that of Perth dad Thahn Phan, who was allegedly hit by a British tourist last week on a rented e-scooter. The rules around hired e-bikes will be examined. Newswire /Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia
Following that incident the state government said that it needed to do more.
'We have very strict regulations about the speed of e-scooters,' said Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti.
'But it's obvious we need to do more on compliance.' she said.
The committee is set to investigate the expansion of penalties, how the vehicles are rented, how they are used in congested areas and how technology like speed limiting can be used to make them safer.
Announcing the new committee, Police and Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby said the government wanted to do 'as much as possible' to keep everyone safe from e-rideables.
'I've become increasingly concerned about safety issues around e-rideables and e-scooters and I'm particularly concerned about the safety and the vulnerability of pedestrians as well as those people who ride these devices,' Mr Whitby said.
'And I think there's a growing community concern also.' Police and Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby announced the Parliamentary Committee. Supplied Credit: Supplied
Other measures to be considered by the committee are night-time curfews and the use of e-bikes and e-scooters in entertainment districts.
Asked by reporters on Saturday morning, Mr Whitby said a ban of the vehicles on footpaths would 'absolutely' be considered.
Mr Whitby said it was important that the state had a bipartisan approach to the reforms, acknowledging that he wanted the community to work together.
The committee will deliver its report in September and Mr Whitby said in the meantime the police would need to maintain 'vigilance' in their enforcement.
E-bikes have come under fire nationally in recent months as fatalities continue to mount.

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Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. TMC Maritime said the vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50m down, in the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. Eight steel lifting straps are being used to support the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system that began raising the vessel out of the water on Saturday. As it is lifted up, sea water is pumped out of the hull. On Sunday, it is anticipated the floating crane platform will move the Bayesian to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle is waiting for it. The Bayesian is missing its 72m mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. British investigators said in an interim report issued in May that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind" and could not recover. A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily in 2024, killing UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, has partially resurfaced as salvage recovery crews finalise the complex operation to bring it ashore for further investigation. The white top and blue hull of the 56-metre Bayesian was visible on the surface on Saturday, but was not clear of the sea yet in a holding area of a yellow floating crane barge. "Pumping out of sea water will continue and it will be lunchtime, following a series of lifting and resting procedures to satisfy the salvage team, before Bayesian is fully and finally out of the water," said David Wilson, spokesman for TMC Maritime, which is conducting the recovery operation. The Bayesian sank August 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. TMC Maritime said the vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50m down, in the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. Eight steel lifting straps are being used to support the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system that began raising the vessel out of the water on Saturday. As it is lifted up, sea water is pumped out of the hull. On Sunday, it is anticipated the floating crane platform will move the Bayesian to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle is waiting for it. The Bayesian is missing its 72m mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. British investigators said in an interim report issued in May that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind" and could not recover. A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily in 2024, killing UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, has partially resurfaced as salvage recovery crews finalise the complex operation to bring it ashore for further investigation. The white top and blue hull of the 56-metre Bayesian was visible on the surface on Saturday, but was not clear of the sea yet in a holding area of a yellow floating crane barge. "Pumping out of sea water will continue and it will be lunchtime, following a series of lifting and resting procedures to satisfy the salvage team, before Bayesian is fully and finally out of the water," said David Wilson, spokesman for TMC Maritime, which is conducting the recovery operation. The Bayesian sank August 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. TMC Maritime said the vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50m down, in the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. Eight steel lifting straps are being used to support the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system that began raising the vessel out of the water on Saturday. As it is lifted up, sea water is pumped out of the hull. On Sunday, it is anticipated the floating crane platform will move the Bayesian to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle is waiting for it. The Bayesian is missing its 72m mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. British investigators said in an interim report issued in May that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind" and could not recover.

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Superyacht pulled from seabed 10 months after sinking

A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily in 2024, killing UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, has partially resurfaced as salvage recovery crews finalise the complex operation to bring it ashore for further investigation. The white top and blue hull of the 56-metre Bayesian was visible on the surface on Saturday, but was not clear of the sea yet in a holding area of a yellow floating crane barge. "Pumping out of sea water will continue and it will be lunchtime, following a series of lifting and resting procedures to satisfy the salvage team, before Bayesian is fully and finally out of the water," said David Wilson, spokesman for TMC Maritime, which is conducting the recovery operation. The Bayesian sank August 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. TMC Maritime said the vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50m down, in the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. Eight steel lifting straps are being used to support the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system that began raising the vessel out of the water on Saturday. As it is lifted up, sea water is pumped out of the hull. On Sunday, it is anticipated the floating crane platform will move the Bayesian to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle is waiting for it. The Bayesian is missing its 72m mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. British investigators said in an interim report issued in May that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind" and could not recover.