By Darren Catton
•
June 27, 2019
E Scooters were introduced into Brisbane in October 2018. What most people don't know is that in December 2018 the Government introduced new safety laws for the scooters. Helmets are mandatory even though the scooters can only be ridden on footpaths (not roads or bike paths), must give way to all pedestrians and have a speed limit of 25 kph. The police have already given out hundreds of traffic tickets to riders and over a hundred riders were taken to hospital in scooter related injuries in the first 2 months. Recently, in Ann Street, Brisbane I had to quickly duck out of the way of a scooter driven by a young girl who was piggybacking a friend. Neither wore helmets and the driver seemed marginally in control. As the number of scooters increase injuries caused by scooters will also rise. The Government needs to make sure that persons injured by irresponsible riders have the same right to claim compensation as a person injured in a motor vehicle accident. Currently, the scooters are not vehicles for the purposes of the Compulsory Third Party Scheme.