Traffic incidents involving e-scooters have more than tripled since 2020
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Traffic incidents involving e-scooters have more than tripled since 2020, according to gardaí.
To date, there have been 791 traffic incidents involving them, and of these, there have been 266 collisions.
In 2021, there were 759 incidents — of which more than 194 involved a collision — and in 2020, there were 280 traffic incidents.
Their use appears to be mostly concentrated in larger urban areas: The vast majority of incidents happen in Dublin, with the bulk of the rest split between Cork, Limerick, and Kildare.
Dublin also appears to be the area where enforcement is predominantly a feature.
Of more than 300 e-scooters seized by gardaí since January 2020, only around 10 were seized in garda divisions outside Dublin.
The stats around traffic incidents and collisions comes as legislation allowing for the legal use of e-scooters continues its passage through the houses of the Oireachtas.
Until it is enacted, the use of all e-scooters on public roads or in public places is illegal.
The Department of Transport says their use is “not currently permitted” because, while e-scooters are classed as “motorised vehicles”, there is still no vehicle or licence category to allow for their use.
However, given the existing level of e-scooter use and the need to ensure safety for e-scooter and other road users, a plan is underway to legislate for e-scooters.
The Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021 will introduce a new category of vehicle in the 1961 Road Traffic Act, powered personal transporters, or PPTs.
The bill, which is currently passing through the houses of the Oireachtas, will regulate the use of specific types of PPT, such as e-scooters, on public roads.
A spokesperson said: “Regulations, made under the new act, will set out appropriate technical and safety standards for e-scooters, as well as rules for their use.
“The use of e-scooters which comply with the regulations will become legal at that point and they will not require registration, licensing, insurance or taxation.
“Preparatory work to draft usage and technical regulations for e-scooters has commenced.”
As well as not being legal to use on roads, it is also impossible to get them insured for use on a public road.
A spokesperson for Insurance Ireland, the industry body, said: “Insurance Ireland is unaware, at present, of any motor insurance products in Ireland designed for e-scooters, nor are we aware of an appetite from the general public to purchase such a product.
“Insurance Ireland has liaised with the Government on this issue and further clarity will be provided by the completion of the Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021 through the Oireachtas.”
Incidentally, while the number of traffic incidents and collisions involving e-bikes is also up on last year, they are not up by as much as e-scooters.
There were 238 traffic incidents involving an e-bike in 2021, with 37 involving a collision. There have been 277 traffic incidents involving e-bikes — up to October 26 — and of these, 52 involved a collision.
Mater Hospital Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr Frank Lyons said earlier this year that the hospital carries out around five surgical procedures each month on people who use an e-scooter.
In a recent interview with Newstalk, he said many people who use them are just not used to or prepared for how powerful some of these machines can be.
The most amount of injuries come to people at the start of their attempt to master the use of an e-scooter, he said.
He believes basic training on how to use them should be mandatory, they should all have lights and everyone who uses them should all wear helmets.
That they are not legal to use on public roads was news to everyone the spoke to in Cork City.
The first three people we saw were all obviously underage, and children on their way to school.
All of them were on the pavements, weaving through and around pedestrians.
Because of their age, most people deftly stepped out of their way.
But from the steady flow of people on scooters coming into the city from Kent Station came a veritable army of grown adults on scooters, with few wearing helmets.
Few stopped, perhaps because they were on their way to work.
But those that did, were shocked to realise they were breaking the law.
Martha Sobczak also didn’t realise the Cecotec Bongo Scooter she received as a present from her husband was illegal to use in public.
She uses it to get from her home in Midleton to the town’s train station, from where she travels to Kent Station and then she uses the scooter to get from there to work off Washington Street.
The Polish 35-year-old said: “It is legal to use in Poland so I never gave it a second thought about it not being legal here.
“It doesn’t go very fast and I tend to stay out of everyone's way.
Elsewhere in the city was Gabriel Margutti, 18, travelling to Cork City’s The Lough on a Kugoo G2 Pro from his work on Dublin Hill, on the north side.
The €800 machine, which he says saves him around €150 a month in bus fares from his home to work in Dublin Hill, has a top speed of 45km/h.
With double disc brakes, shock absorbers on both wheels, and a 55km range per charge, it is a serious piece of machinery.
Gabriel, who is originally from Brazil, had no idea it is currently illegal to operate it on a public road or path.
“I did not know that,” he said when approached by the .
“I am shocked and I will have to look into this.”
Asked why he doesn’t wear a helmet, he said: “I didn’t think I needed one.”
James Treacy, originally from Tyrone and studying in Cork’s College of Theatre and Drama, also did not realise it was illegal to ride an e-scooter in public.
“I use it most days to get to college but will have to have another look at things now that you say it is illegal,” he said.
The 25-year-old, who rides a €300 Ninebot e-scooter with a top speed of 25km/h, says he only uses it in cycle lanes and bus lanes.
“I didn’t realise it was illegal, so I will have to walk or use a bus from now on,” he said.