E-riders facing ever-greater scrutiny as injuries continue to mount
Shire transport
More than 10,000 people have signed a series of petitions across Australia calling for a host of e-bike and e-scooter reforms as doctors continue to report an ever-growing number of injuries and deaths across the state.
One Queensland pediatrician has garnered more than 3000 signatures on a petition calling for an under-16 ban on riding e-mobility devices on public roads.
“I have seen countless children endure preventable injuries from riding e-mobility devices, such as e-scooters and e-bikes, on public roads,” the change.org petition reads.
“This alarming trend has seen a surge in hospital admissions for children under the age of 16, with some injuries being not only life-threatening but tragically fatal.”
“Data from Queensland’s Injury Surveillance Unit show that children under 16 now account for about 25 per cent of e-scooter-related emergency department presentations.
“We call on the Queensland State Government to introduce and enforce stricter laws that ban children under the age of 16 from riding e-mobility devices on public roads.”
The call comes as the State Government continues to hold hearings and briefings as part of an e-mobility-device inquiry, which is due to hand down its findings by March 30.
During December, the inquiry heard that there is more agreement being reached nationally about setting a common standard based on international EN15194 guidelines, where legal e-bikes have a 250W motor, are pedal-assisted with no throttle, have a maximum speed of 25km and do not need to be licenced or registered.
The parliamentary committee discussed whether a secondary category of “effectively motorcycles with an electric battery” could be considered in this state, which may require a licence to ride, registration and could go faster than 40km/h on up to 500W engines.
Industry body Pedal Group Australia chief executive Andrew Garnsworthy suggested a staged introduction of e-devices that could travel up to 45km/h on public roads.
“They feel unsafe riding at 25 kilometres an hour when there are cars zipping through at 40 or 50 kilometres per hour,” he said.
“We feel that that will be a safer way of people riding with traffic.”
Bicycle Industries Australia general manager Peter Bourke said the majority of responses to the suggestion of bike registrations have been negative.
“The economic cost of implementing that would be excessive, there is no doubt about that,” he said.
E-device industry representative Stephen Coulter said a commonsense approach, which some European countries have adopted, may be to bring in some form of e-bike licence once riders turn 16.
“We think a learner’s permit is an appropriate minimum level for people of that age to have if they are going down the path of getting a car or motorbike licence as well,” he said.