Private e-scooters to be legalised on UK roads

• Private electric scooters are set to be legalised on UK roads.
• Trials of e-scooters are currently taking place in 31 areas in England.
• Government will need to address safety concerns. 

The Government is set to legalise the use of private electric scooters on public roads, bringing in regulatory standards to crack down on the private market.

The plans are part of a new Transport Bill, confirmed in the Queen’s Speech, which was delivered by Prince Charles yesterday (10 May 2022). 

Currently, e-scooters can only legally be used on public roads when they are rented as part of Government trials, which are taking place in 31 areas in England.  

However, sales of private e-scooters have soared and, according to charity CoMoUK, hundreds of thousands of unregulated e-scooters are being illegally used on public roads.

Their misuse has been met with criticism from the police and road safety campaigners, with e-scooters linked to criminal activity and fatalities on the roads. 

The latest data supplied by UK police forces shows that in the year ending June 2021 there were 931 casualties in accidents involving e-scooters, of which three people were killed and an estimated 253 people were seriously injured, with 675 slightly injured.

A recent freedom of information request to all NHS Ambulance Trusts by the Major Trauma Group found that 82 per cent more ambulances were called to assist e-scooter related accidents during 2021 than 2020 (713 accidents versus 392).

It also revealed the number of e-scooter accident patients being referred to A&E increased by 40 per cent between 2020 and 2021, rising from 124 to 173 patients.

Government crack down on private market for e-scooters

In April this year, transport secretary Grant Shapps announced the Government’s intention to introduce legislation to allow the Government to regulate e-scooters in the 2022-23 parliamentary session. 

The Government would then be able to stipulate that all e-scooters sold met certain standards concerning speed, power and lights, among other things.

Shapps said the Government wanted to “crack down on the private market and make it illegal to sell e-scooters which don’t meet the regulatory standards” the Government plans to bring in.

Following the Queen’s speech, a spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “Safety will always be our top priority and our trials are helping us to better understand the benefits of properly regulated, safety-tested e-scooters and their impact on public space.

“While riding a privately owned e-scooter on public land is currently illegal, we are considering how best to design future regulations and our Transport Bill would enable us to take the steps we need to make e-scooters safer and support innovation.”

E-scooters could help reduce traffic volumes

RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said that allowing privately-owned e-scooters to use the roads could help reduce traffic volumes in towns and cities but "it would be disastrous if a hasty decision to legalise all e-scooters led to an increase in deaths and serious injuries” when overall road fatality numbers have plateaued in recent years.

He said that the Government must look at how e-scooters can be prevented from using pavements and kept out of pedestrianised areas, whether e-scooters should be covered by compulsory insurance, and whether they should be built to meet certain standards to ensure their safe use. 

"Questions will also be raised as to whether e-scooter riders should be able to demonstrate a certain level of riding competence before taking to the roads," he said. 

Trevor Sterling, chair of the Major Trauma Group and senior partner at Moore Barlow, added: "We must prioritise educating road users on the changing nature of our roads to keep everyone safe. It is only when all types of e-scooters are subject to the same rigorous standard of safety that we will see a reduction in preventable incidents and less strain on the NHS.”

Provision for self-driving cars and EVs

The Transport Bill also includes new laws to enable self-driving cars, following a recent Government announcement, and support for the roll out of electric vehicle charge points, as well as the creation of a new body, Great British Railways, to replace Network Rail. 

“The world of transport is changing rapidly." Edmund King, AA president

Reacting to the announcement of the Transport Bill, Edmund King, AA president, said: “The world of transport is changing rapidly with new innovations and technologies for consumers to choose from. Regardless of how people travel, we must keep the consumer at the heart of it.

“For car owners, the drive towards electrification needs more support and we are pleased to see more emphasis on boosting the public charging network. As well as installing more chargepoints, we need to ensure they are reliable, easy to use, safe and accessible to all.

 “Similarly, drivers will need to be part of the conversation when it comes to introducing more autonomous technology in cars. Drivers are not quite ready to take their hands off the wheel and are nervous about handing over responsibility to the car but are supportive of technology such as autonomous emergency braking which enhances safety.

 “With e-scooters and other forms of micro-mobility popping up more frequently on UK roads, it makes sense that safety regulation should come first.  If introduced alongside appropriate infrastructure, e-mobility could help provide a positive shift in greener localised travel both for individuals and last-mile freight.”