E-scooters 'turn pavements into a jungle'

E-scooters ‘turn pavements into a jungle’: Tory Baroness calls for urgent action over motorised devices and says they should be banned or face tough rules over use

• The Government is considering whether to legalise e-scooters  
• Privately owned e-scooters are banned from roads, pavements and cycle paths
• Rental trials of e-scooters have taken place in cities across the country

E-scooters are turning pavements into a ‘jungle’ and urgent action is needed before more lives are lost, a Tory peer said yesterday.

Their widespread use generates fear, Baroness Neville-Rolfe told a House of Lords debate.

Lady Neville-Rolfe, who has previously described motorised scooters as fuelling ‘a Wild West of lawlessness’, said they should either be banned or strictly regulated.

She added: ‘It’s a pity that these problems have been allowed to develop without the Government making any attempt to set limits and boundaries. The pavements have become a jungle, and this has become an urgent matter.’

A man is seen riding an e-scooter in central London in 2019. E-scooters are turning pavements into a ‘jungle’ and urgent action is needed before more lives are lost, a Tory peer said yesterday

The Government is considering whether to legalise e-scooters to help cut traffic congestion and pollution. Privately owned e-scooters are currently banned from public roads, pavements and cycle paths, but rental trials have taken place in cities across the country.

In the year to June 2021, there were 882 accidents involving e-scooters, leading to 931 casualties and three deaths.

The problem is worst in London, where the first six months of 2021 saw 258 crashes, dwarfing the nine recorded during the whole of 2018. The Metropolitan Police last year seized more than 3,600 e-scooters that had been used illegally.

Lady Neville-Rolfe, who called the short Lords debate, said its purpose was to ask the ‘Government what plans they have for further regulating use of e-scooters given safety concerns about their use’.

She added: ‘I have two possible approaches – the first would be radical and prohibit the sale of e-scooters in the UK.

‘This is a case of stopping e-scooters on public roads before more damage is done and more lives are lost. E-scooters generate fear for the citizen – both about being injured and the fear of e-scooter-based mugging.’

But she added: ‘There is a second approach – to regulate, to provide appropriate powers and penalties and to give authorities the means to enforce the law. It would need to cover speed limits, mandatory helmet wearing, a simple driving test and compulsory insurance.’

Lady Neville-Rolfe warned that as scooter numbers mushroom it will become more difficult to control them. She said: ‘We are drifting into a bad place and failing to act.’

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