Cameras or sensors could be fitted to e-scooters to prevent them being ridden on pavements.

The London Evening Standard newspaper reports firms involved in Transport for London’s trial of rental e-scooters are considering using technology to inform them when the battery-powered vehicles are being ridden illegally, and potentially bring them to a halt.

The paper says Duncan Robertson, UK general manager at e-scooter operator Dott, told a Sight Loss Council conference on e-scooter safety that on-board cameras, GPS mapping technology or sensors that detected changes in the road surface could potentially be used to determine whether e-scooters were being ridden on pavements.

The paper says this comes as the police revealed that almost 4,000 of the privately owned vehicles were seized last year for being used illegally on the capital’s roads.

There have been more than one e-scooter related crash per day recorded in the latest available figures, with pedestrians often the victim as they are crashed into by riders.

(Picture – Metropolitan Police)