‘Incredibly dangerous’ but ‘the only way I can get to work’. What readers think of e-scooters

New regulations on e-scooter use are to come into effect in the coming weeks.An existing ban on under-16s using the vehicles is to be extended to cover all people under 18. It will also become mandatory for users to wear a high-visibility vest and helmet. Penalties are to be introduced for those not in compliance with the age restriction, and it is understood these will also apply to adults who purchase e-scooters for under-18s.Data from Children’s Health Ireland, showing the number of children and young people admitted to hospital with traumatic brain injuries following e-scooter incidents increased by 50 per cent year-on-year, has led to increased scrutiny around the use of the vehicles.READ MORELegislation due to be brought forward from September will also include a licensing requirement and registration system for owners. The Irish Times asked its readers for their thoughts on the proposed regulations. Here’s what they had to say. Orla Fitzpatrick (56), Dublin 7Orla Fitzpatrick was knocked down and left with a head wound by an e-scooter at a pedestrian crossing on Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7, last October. She says she had a green light to cross the road but was “upended” and “thrown up in the air” after being hit.“It felt like a near-death experience,” she says, adding that her husband was also struck and suffered minor injuries.Members of Dublin Fire Brigade arrived at the scene soon afterwards, and Fitzpatrick was brought to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown where five staples were required to close her head wound. “It was traumatic.” Fitzpatrick says the narrative around e-scooters is “so focused on children”, but the vehicles are just as much of a danger to adults. “I am an adult; the driver was an adult.”Despite the fact she is still “quite nervous crossing the road”, Fitzpatrick still sees the “utility” provided by e-scooters and does not support an outright ban. She believes they should have to be registered and insured and “treated like a motorcycle”.Seán Gilligan (33), Maynooth, Co KildareSeán Gilligan has a 20-minute walk from his house to Maynooth train station each morning and another 20-minute walk from Pearse Station to his office in the city centre.“It’s the only way I can get to work, so I end up walking 80 minutes every day. Rain or hail.”The IT manager says that if he was allowed to bring his e-scooter on the train, the time it takes him to travel to and from the station and office could be “cut to a fraction”.“What frustrates me is that, instead of introducing proper battery safety standards like they have for many e-bikes, we have just outright banned e-scooters from public transport,” he says. “It feels like the easiest solution was chosen instead of the smartest one.”Gilligan says the public are encouraged to find “greener ways of getting around” but cars and an “unreliable bus system” are still prioritised over alternative transport methods.“If we want people to leave the car at home, we need to make it easier to combine public transport with things like e-scooters, not harder.” Hugh Byrne (64), Tullogher, Co KilkennyHugh Byrne says he almost collided with a teenager on an e-scooter who was “out too far” in the middle of a narrow, country road.Byrne says he turned a corner travelling at 60km/h and ended up directly behind the e-scooter user who was going half his speed.He believes e-scooters “are of use” for urban settings, but are not practical in the countryside.However, Byrne says it is “pointless bringing in laws to control these vehicles” unless they are enforced to a better extent than those covering other motoring scourges such as “illegal phone usage” by motorists.The key, he believes, is making it “awkward” for people to own and use e-scooters, particularly children who “don’t want to be lugging a big helmet around”.He also supports e-scooter users being required to have insurance, take driving tests, wear high-visibility jackets and meet criteria other road users must.“Anyone using a powered vehicle on a public road should be licensed and should be obliged to wear protective headgear similar to motorcyclists.”Sarah Cashman (41), Waterford city Sarah Cashman thinks the use of e-scooters and e-bikes should be encouraged.The promotion of public transport and a “green agenda” is something she supports, but she believes the offering is a long way from London and we do not have the infrastructure to ban alternative modes of transport. As someone who relied on public transport in Cork city for the first eight years of her working life, Cashman says an e-scooter “would have made all the difference”.Since moving to Waterford, she says there are fewer public transport options and that e-scooters “give people a really decent commuting option” that allows them to “leave home at consistent times”.Cashman says the vehicles are also a “lifeline for a lot of people” and many forget “how awful” it can be to rely on public transport when commuting to lower-paying jobs.Wendy Malone (59), Oldcastle, Co MeathWendy Malone says she has observed how “incredibly dangerous” e-scooters can be to other road users.She has seen young people in Navan riding e-scooters at speeds of up to 35km/h on footpaths and “swerving around pedestrians”. During her commute to her job as a resource teacher for the National Learning Network, Malone says e-scooter users “come off the pavement into oncoming traffic and weave in and out” of cars.She says they can pose a particular danger for people with vulnerabilities, including some of her students, who may not see an e-scooter “coming at them at fast speed”.Given both adults and children use e-scooters, Malone believes “nothing short of an outright ban will save pedestrians from getting knocked down, seriously injured or even killed”.Fabrizio (30), Donnycarney, Co DublinFabrizio, who did not provide his surname, says many people need e-scooters to get to work, particularly those employed in hospitality, healthcare settings and those generally having to commute at “odd times”.He believes the issues happening on the roads that have put a focus on e-scooters are down to a lack of regulation such as insurance and registration rather than the vehicles themselves. He also supports stricter regulations being placed on those producing and selling e-scooters, such as ensuring the vehicles cannot exceed the speed limit of 20km/h.