Following a two-year trial, electric scooters will no longer be allowed on Kent’s roadways after council members felt compelled to act before “someone gets gravely damaged.”
It happens when an e-scooter that was being driven down a pavement in Canterbury hit an 80-year-old grandma, causing her to break her wrist, cheekbone, and jaw.
After her injury, Sarah Carter, a retired university librarian, demanded that the city-wide trial programme be discontinued. She called the council “irresponsible” for the absence of infrastructure and described the e-scooters as “lethal.”
“Another older person might have very easily been far more gravely harmed or even died,” she stated after her mishap.
The four-grandmother patient was transported by ambulance to the adjacent William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, where she spent a total of eight hours in the hospital, including four hours in A&E when her injuries were examined and surgery was performed.
Despite concerns about public safety and Ms. Carter’s tragic accident, the e-scooter pilot programme that was introduced in Canterbury, Kent, in November 2020 for an initial year has twice been extended.
However, Kent County Council has declared that enough is enough after rejecting a Department of Transport proposal to extend the trial’s existing expiration date of November 30 this year by almost two years, until May 2024.
Prior to the pilot program’s expiration, e-scooters will soon start to vanish from the county’s roadways in the southeast.
Due to the fact that e-scooters may only be used on public roads as part of government-approved trials, there won’t be any lawfully ridden electric scooters on Kent’s streets as of December 1.
David Brazier, a councillor for transportation, has been in charge of managing the trial. “I decided to shorten the trial as we were getting close to the conclusion before someone was gravely wounded,” he stated.
In relation to Ms. Carter’s tragedy, he said, “Recently an older woman was fairly gravely hurt by one being ridden in a pedestrian area which was not authorised.”
While noting that it was “very evident today incidents may have been worse than they were,” Cllr. Brazier said he “tended to favour” the judicial process.
At a cross-party committee hearing, he said, “You cannot legislate against individuals who would agree to use something in a specific manner and then suit themselves.”
He informed the council members that e-scooter users had been travelling on roads that were not approved by Bird, the official pilot.
According to The Department for Transport, there were 1,280 accidents involving e-scooters in the UK in 2021. Nine fatalities and 1,359 injuries were caused by these occurrences.
According to reports, the corridor between the university and the city centre may now be the only route left in the Canterbury experiment by November 30.
‘In recent months, Bird, working to implement this pilot for Kent County Council, has adopted increased safety measures including a decrease in the electric scooter speeds from 15mph to 12mph,’ a representative for Kent County Council said.
In addition, the council said that “Birdwatchers” had been sent to police the area for pavement riding, and that Bird had altered its rider policy to institute an instant suspension for any infraction.
Prior to the study’s conclusion in Kent at the end of November, “Kent County Council has chosen to progressively limit the number of cars in the trial, as well as the locations in which they operate.”
Bird were, however, “obviously quite dissatisfied” with the choice. One in five eligible Canterbury users have used our cars, choosing sustainable transport over travels fueled by gasoline, according to a spokeswoman. “We have an exceptionally low incident rate of 0.0014 percent out of over 67,000 rides since we debuted in 2020,” the spokesperson added.
Until the end of November, “We will continue to provide our handy and environmentally efficient cars to Canterbury residents.”
Despite the many complaints, Cllr. Brazier praised Bird for being “capable and professional individuals” who “took many efforts to safeguard the safety of their workers and the public at large.”
The government is likely to decide whether or not to legalise the use of e-scooters on public roadways in the UK after the last 29 government-approved trials conclude in May 2024.
What regulations apply to e-scooters?
Right now, the only way to legally ride an electric scooter on certain public highways or in other public places is to rent one.
However, after a trial period, the contentious vehicles may be permitted for usage across the UK. Ten London boroughs are now participating in the programme with three suppliers to assess how e-scooters perform on the city’s roadways.
To hire an e-scooter, a driver must be at least 18 years old and have a full or provisional driving licence. Riding e-scooters on pavement is nonetheless prohibited.
E-scooters and other powered transporters owned by individuals are similarly prohibited from being used on public roadways.
Laws governing the usage of e-scooters include:
E-scooters hired under the TfL programme will be allowed to use the cycle lanes and public roads in participating boroughs.
These municipalities will establish no-go zones where electric scooters cannot be used and must stop safely, as well as go-slow zones where the speed of electric scooters is limited to 8mph.