New e-scooter regulations not enough to curb residents’ safety concerns

Local residents’ groups have called on the City of Melbourne to consult the public before it proceeds with a further rollout of commercial e-scooters following Melbourne’s two-year trial.

The Victorian Government announced in July that it would introduce tougher regulations around e-scooters to improve safety.

The measures will come into effect in October and will include increased fines for riding on the footpath, drinking while riding, not wearing a helmet and underage riding.

The changes will also see new offences introduced for riding as a passenger and not wearing a helmet as a passenger.

The regulations followed the government’s announcement that it will allow for the use of e-scooters state-wide after a successful two-year trial which will end on October 4.

In 2022, former Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the trial was “one of the most successful in the world,” reaching one million trips in just four months compared to London which took a year to meet the same milestone.

Since then, e-scooters have soared in popularity across Melbourne.

Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece said in July that more than nine million trips had been taken over the course of the trial so far.

Cr Reece said that almost a third of these trips were in place of car trips.

But president of EastEnders residents’ group Dr Stan Capp said the popularity of commercial e-scooters needed to be weighed against the impact on community safety.

“As a resident group in the east of the CBD, EastEnders has discussed this consistently throughout the trial with an overwhelming number of members having experienced a heightened degree of anxiety about the activities of e-scooter riders and the threats to personal safety,” Dr Capp said.

A recent EastEnders meeting heard a majority agreement that commercial e-scooters should be banned.

Research published last year in the ANZ Journal of Surgery found that between January 2022 and January 2023, 256 people presented to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with e-scooter related injuries.

The vast majority of those who were injured were riders, with nine of the patients being pedestrians.

More than a third of patients had been drinking alcohol, and only a third were wearing a helmet.

The cost of these injuries to the hospital was more than $1.9 million.

Minister for Public and Active Transport Gabrielle Williams said e-scooters were here to stay.

“We know there have been safety concerns, and that’s why we have thoroughly assessed their use and are introducing some of the toughest new laws in the country to make e-scooters safer,” Minister Williams said.

They’ve proven popular among commuters, especially shift workers, providing an additional option to travel home safely.

The government says that councils were working with the Department of Transport and Planning to instate further safety measures including footpath detection.

According to AAP, Neuron Mobility said in July that it would install AI cameras on all Melbourne e-scooters.

The AI technology has been training for six months to recognise Melbourne’s footpaths and roads.

Neuron said the technology had the ability to detect when the user was on a footpath in less than a second, after which an audio warning was issued.

The power on the e-scooter may then be reduced, and repeat offenders face potentially being banned.

Dr Capp said that before the City of Melbourne proceeds with the official rollout within the municipality, it should consult the community through either a People’s Panel, polling done through a credible public opinion research company, or a plebiscite of all City of Melbourne residents and ratepayers.

“The resolution of ‘wicked problems’ is at the heart of deliberative democracy and the use or elimination of commercial e-scooters in the City of Melbourne is a ‘wicked’ problem.”

"The City of Melbourne has the option not to go to procurement." 

The East Melbourne Group and Carlton Residents’ Association also supported a deliberative process to assess the efficacy of rental e-scooter services.

Rafa Camillo, president of Residents 3000, said that while the group welcomed the new regulations for the remainder of the trial, he did not support commercial e-scooters in the long term.

“The trial with commercial e-scooters must be ceased and only private e-scooters to be allowed to be used on the postcode 3000. The reason for my firm and direct opinion is based on this long trial, and my conclusion is that the commercial e-scooters in the CBD can cause more harm than good,” Mr Camillo said.

“As president of Residents 3000 group, I get constant complaints on the commercial e-scooters users and the accidents that they cause.”

“The e-scooters are abandoned everywhere causing a massive impact on pedestrian mobility and those that have vision impairment.”

He added that at a Town Hall meeting between presidents of residents’ groups on August 1, it was unanimously agreed that the operation of commercial e-scooters across Melbourne should be stopped.

Cr Reece said in a statement on Facebook that the City of Melbourne would consider further e-scooter measures in August.

“If operators and riders can’t abide by our rules, shared e-scooters won’t be permitted in the City of Melbourne,” the Lord Mayor said.