Set minimum age, compulsory safety course for e-scooter users
I read the report on the e-scooter rider who hurt and caused pain to an innocent housewife and extreme agony for her family (“Detention order for teenage e-scooter rider who caused housewife severe brain injuries”; July 17).
E-scooters have been in the news many times when riders injure pedestrians, but near-misses — which are just as common — are never reported.
Such cases will escalate further when the population of e-scooters increases and more young children and teens are exposed to them. Many within this age group may use them for play and fun rather than for the purpose of transportation.
We have seen e-scooters with loud music playing from MP3 players strapped to the device, and those with more than one person on the device weaving in and out of void decks. Some of these riders are not confident or mature enough or are not adept at handling such motorised vehicles, let alone riding them safely.
Public sentiments about the danger posed to pedestrians seem to fall on deaf ears, and no good action has been taken to tackle the inconsiderate and irresponsible behaviours of such riders.
Rules requiring e-scooters to give way to pedestrians or for cyclists to dismount at pedestrian crossings fail miserably because of a lack of enforcement.
We need to take more concrete steps to prevent more accidents from happening.
The authorities could consider registering e-scooters and tagging them for ease of identification. For those who bought the e-scooters online, they must get the devices registered and tagged within a week or face a fine.
E-scooters can move at high speeds and are quite similar to motorcycles on roads, so the rules governing them should take almost similar form. For instance, riders must be of a certain minimum age, they must pass a compulsory safe-riding course and they must commit to paper that they are aware of the “do’s and don’ts” as well as the penalties for non-compliance before being allowed on shared paths.
E-scooters are a tremendous help for the last-mile journey and it is more environment-friendly than driving a car. We should let them flourish, but for now we must find ways to regulate their usage.
It must be within some strict framework in order to prevent more accidents from happening. Imposing penalties on errant users while educating riders will give better and faster results.
