Council Press on with E-Scooter Trial Despite Safety Concerns
Rented scooters to be allowed on local roads from next March
Hounslow Council have decided to participate in a trial of rental Electric scooters (e-scooters) in the borough.
This would legalise the use of these vehicles on local roads beginning in March of next year. It will still not be permitted to use a non-rental e-scooter and all of them will remain banned on pavements.
The trial is due to last for a year but the borough can withdraw any point without a financial penalty.
e-scooters are not legal for use on the public highway in the UK, but the Government is reviewing this restriction. As part of their e-scooter review and in response to reduced public transport capacity as a result of Covid-19, it has fast-tracked legal mechanisms to allow 12-month trials of rental e-scooter schemes to take place.
To hire one you will need insurance and a provisional driving licence. The maximum speed would be 15.5 mph or lower if a trial area opts to reduce this limit. Privately owned e-scooters would remain illegal in public areas even though it is recognised this will cause scope for confusion.
It is understood that the e-scooter rental companies would be paying to participate in the trial and the cost of administration and any necessary infrastructure would be covered.
The decision was taken to participate because the council felt there was the potential to replace a significant number of motor vehicle trips with e-scooter trips which would support the goals of the Air Quality Action Plan.
The council is pressing ahead with trial despite a number of collisions locally involving e-scooter riders. In September a man riding an e-scooter on Chiswick High Road had to be taken to hospital after being hit by a vehicle near Marks and Spencer. In October an e-scooter rider was hit by a delivery van off the Ealing Road in Brentford. Neither injured rider suffered life threatening injuries.
The report by council officer Mark Frost recommending participation states, “Among these considerations, safety has been formally recognised as the number one priority, and officers from several boroughs including Hounslow have scrutinised the evidence from other cities in detail. While the evidence is mixed, it demonstrates that incidences of collisions between e-scooter users and pedestrians is low, and when they do occur, injuries are more minor. More encouragingly, it should be remembered that scooters are a relatively new travel mode, and that scooter operators and regulators have thus been able to draw on early experiences in other countries to improve safety.”
We asked the council if the recent collisions had been considered before making the decision but no response was received.
The council’s transport officers are developing a map of scooter locations (docking bays, “no go” zones, and “go slow” zones where scooters’ maximum speeds will be automatically reduced to 8 mph), based on guidance from TfL and lessons learned from elsewhere.
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December 4, 2020