Call for e-scooter crackdown as woman suffers fractured skull

Coun Viv Padden, of Tranby ward, said Humberside Police should enforce legal bans on e-scooters to stop pedestrians being injured.

The Liberal Democrat added in the full meeting of East Riding Council that greater clarity was needed on their use given ongoing trails elsewhere, including in Scunthorpe.

Councillors voted to refer the issue on to the East Riding’s Overview Management and Scrutiny Committee for further examination.

It comes after councillors heard last month that Humberside Police were reluctant to take a heavy-handed approach to e-scooters despite them being illegal on public roads.

Inspector Tony Tilsley told the Safer and Stronger Sub-Committee the force did not think e-scooters were currently a widespread problem but their use is expected to grow.

Councillors heard e-scooters were classed as a powered vehicle, making them subject to the same rules around licensing as others like cars and motorbikes.

People riding e-scooters in trial areas which also include York cannot venture beyond designated areas and they are only legal on private land everywhere else.

Coun Padden said during the October meeting his wife had almost been knocked over by an e-scooter. He has now told councillors a young woman had been so badly injured after one hit her that she remained unable to work.

The councillor said: “I think we’ve all seen these e-scooters going by, and they’re fast.

“I’m aware of an accident involving a young woman in late August. She was walking to work down a one way street at about 5am or 6am when an e-scooter came around the other corner.

“She didn’t see it coming and the next thing she remembered was waking up in hospital where doctors told her her skull had fractures in three places.

“There’s no indication when she’ll be able to return to work, her life’s been turned upside down.

“The standing position of the riders makes head and facial injuries more likely for them too. If people want to report something there’s no registration number for them to use.

“Let’s keep our streets safe, these are illegal and dangerous.”

It comes after insurance groups called for the Government to bring in robust legislation around the use of e-scooters if their legal use is widened beyond the current permitted trials, and on private land with the permission of the landowner.

Figures show that in the year ending June 2021 there were 882 accidents involving e-scooters, resulting in 931 casualties – the equivalent of 17 people every week - of which 732 were e-scooter users.

In a joint letter to Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, the International Underwriting Association of London (IUA) , the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) raised concerns of the significant risk to all road users, pedestrians and e-scooter users until there is a robust regulation around the wider use of e-scooters beyond the current official trials.