Private e-scooters could be legalised for roads despite soaring numbers of injuries
28 April 2022, 10:49
E-scooters could become legal on England's roads despite more than 100 riders getting seriously injured in London alone.
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Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs he wanted to be able to properly regulate the controversial vehicles.
But he was told during a Commons Transport Select Committee that there have been 900 collisions involving e-scooters, and 11 of those were fatal.
Committee member Ben Bradshaw said e-scooters are a "convenient, cheap and environmentally friendly form of transport" and asked when Mr Shapps' Department for Transport will "get a move on and properly license these things".
Mr Shapps said he "shall announce it on May 10", a reference to the upcoming Queen's Speech.
Read more: Woman who hired e-scooter while drunk on hen do gets driving ban
That is despite the 900 collisions and 11 deaths involving the scooters, as quoted by another committee member, Simon Jupp.
E-scooters have sparked controversy whenever they are involved in incidents, with complaints surrounding the high speeds they can reach when near pedestrians.
Privately-owned scooters can only be used on private land, and only those that are part of trials and rental schemes can be used on the road in England.
In other high-profile incidents, a 14-year-old girl died after her e-scooter collided with a van in east London last month.
A three-year-old girl suffered life-changing injuries after she was struck by a young man riding an e-scooter in south London in July last year.
Read more: Number of e-scooter injuries in London surges, new figures show
Mr Shapps said it was better to acknowledge e-scooters exist and the state should be looking to regulate them.
He said that "in the future I want to crack down on the illegal use on roads of non-compliant e-scooters".
"We will take powers to properly regulate and then be able to decide the usage of them.
"They're a reality, they exist," he went on.
"If these things exist they need to be made safe, and I think the trials have been useful in gathering data and there's more data still to gather."
Speaking after the session, AA president Edmund King said: "The Government is right to address this issue and bring in regulations rather than allowing some of our cities to be over-run like the Wild West with illegal scooters.
"Micro-mobility and e-technology can have a positive effect on movement in our cities but we must ensure that movement is safe."
