Page 1892 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 22 June 2021
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feel unsafe at shopping centres. Not only do they have to worry about trip hazards or uneven footpaths, but now they need to look out for speeding e-scooters. It is strange that you can scoot through an arcade in Manuka at 25 kilometres an hour but you are restricted to 15 kilometres an hour around the lake. I do not think that those concerns can just be dismissed.
The government, which has—I do not know—a hundred times the budget and capacity of the Lee office, did its own survey through YourSay, as mentioned in Mr Pettersson’s motion. The government survey suggested strong support for expanding e-scooter availability to other town centres. I am on the same page as Mr Pettersson in regard to expanding the scheme, but I do not believe that we can ignore the concerns from Canberrans over safety. Notwithstanding the safety program that has been run out, I think more has to be made of safety concerns. That is why I propose some amendments to this motion. I move:
After paragraph (5) (c) insert new paragraph (5) (ca) and (5) (cb) as follows:
“(ca) undertake a review of e-scooter accidents and collisions with a view to creating a safer environment for both users and pedestrians;
(cb) ensure centres in Woden and Tuggeranong are included in expansion plans for e-scooter services;”
The Canberra Liberals do not believe that it is up to us to suggest specific safety solutions for the successful e-scooter scheme, but we do not believe it is possible for us to move forward without a full investigation of the collisions thus far and an assessment of that data.
In other jurisdictions internationally, there is growing concern about safety associated with e-scooters. Three days ago, Shakur Pinnock became the second person in the UK to die as a result of an e-scooter accident. He spent a week on life support in Birmingham after a collision with a motor vehicle nearly a fortnight ago in Wolverhampton. He was 20 years of age. These are not the headlines we wish to see here—or anywhere else, for that matter.
Seoul in South Korea is one of the biggest markets for Beam scooters. During my meetings with representatives from Beam, they mentioned that Seoul was a wonderful market for them and that, generally speaking, South Korean users were much more compliant than users in other jurisdictions. However, just today there was a report in the Korea Times suggesting that the number of accidents involving e-scooters has tripled in Seoul in the last three years. It has tripled.
Just 12 hours ago, Global News in Saskatchewan in Canada reported that there were calls for a review of the laws around e-scooter use because of an explosion in accident numbers.
ABC7 Eyewitness News from New York reported this seven days ago:
7 On your Side Investigates uncovered a new disturbing trend—e-scooter accidents are on the rise in the New York City area, and oftentimes, it’s not the scooter driver who’s the one getting injured.
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