Electric scooters have seen varying responses in legality throughout the world. With some cities such as Milan welcoming their inclusion and incorporating them into their daily commute while others such as London and LA placing a blanket ban on them.
Atlanta saw the tragic death of 34-year-old nurse Amber Ford on an electric scooter. However their response was quite unlike the UK’s response of a complete ban following the terrible accident that led to the death of Emily Hartridge, a UK TV presenter.
Atlanta instead decided to put the responsibility upon the condition of the roads, rather than the ability of the individual. Atlanta mayor, Keesha Bottoms and the Atlanta council decided, after consulting local and national safety experts, to fix the streets. The following September, a multi-million dollar plan to reshape the streets in order to protect users on more vulnerable vehicles such as e-scooters, bicycles and pedestrians. Cities across the world are beginning to expand their networks to incorporate alternative travel methods. Barcelona were among the first to classify the increasing volume of micro-vehicles and have proceeded to reach every area of the city with an impressive 170km bicycle network. Nashville spent only $100,000 to complete a seven block stretch of bicycle lane which has made an enormous impact. San Francisco have recently completed a $3.5m overhaul of Market Street, removing cars entirely.
The people of Atlanta have spent more than $16 million on e-scooter trips in the last 12 months, and took almost 4,400,000 rides on scooters and e-bikes alone. San Francisco discovered through a study of the city that 58% of electric scooter accidents happened on its ‘high injury’ network. However the study indicated that vehicle management, rider education and fleet operations on behalf of the scooter companies would make a significant difference on injury levels. A third of injuries to e-scooter riders in Austin happened on the users very first ride, so it is evident that some form of training would benefit. Los Angeles recently revealed that nearly half of shared e-scooter trips would be otherwise been taken by a private car or taxi.
Unfortunately, the current UK ruling seems hilariously antiquated compared to other countries, particularly when you consider that electric scooters only go a little faster than their non-electric counterparts favoured by many children on route to school or even adults on their commute.
Reports from the telegraph indicate that out of 100 pulled over during the Met’s first operated, only 10 were fined and only 1 seized. The Met reported that these decision were down to irresponsible riding, endangering others, running red lights, rather than the fact it was an electric scooter.
Are the laws likely to change in the UK? During a COVID-19 briefing on 9 May 2020, Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps unveiled that the plan to evaluate e-scooters in the UK has been brought forward to June 2020 and have been revised to expand nationwide, rather than to four specific regions as originally planned. Grant Shapps called this to be “the biggest review of transport laws in a generation.” This review intends to establish minimum vehicle requirements, and will consider whether to require riders to have a license, insurance and whether to wear a helmet. This announcement was made alongside other suggested changes to the transport infrastructure to avoid build-ups. It is unclear whether the market will take a private ownership route or move toward to shared scheme since shared transport has seen a dip amidst public fear of contagion.