More question marks are being raised over the safety of e-scooters in busy areas, as the ITV investigative journalism show Tonight reports that the roll-out has led to hundreds of injuries and more than 1,000 complaints.
Reporter Chris Choy says “the scale of problems with rental scooters is revealed” in “E-scooters: Britain’s New Road Rage?”, broadcast on at 7.30 pm on Thursday 20 May. It will be available on-demand after broadcast.
He says the investigation, which has evidence of dangerous driving, anti-social behaviour and drunk riding, includes calls for urgent regulation of the vehicles. “Put simply,” he says, “We’ve got to make our minds up about e-scooters.”
Figures it has received after Freedom of Information requests say councils report there are more than 7,608 rental e-scooters currently in use – with permission granted for at least 34,425. Local authorities, who are running the e-scooter schemes in conjunction with 11 private companies, have reported more than 800 incidents including 25 collisions. 122 users have been banned from using the rental scooters since safety trials began last summer. Many of the complaints were not about how they were ridden, but where they were parked.
Highways News has been regularly report on e-scooters and its recent Highways Voices podcast on the subject with the journalist Peter Hitchens was the most listened to of the series to date.
You can read more about the Tonight programme here.
(Picture – ITV Tonight)
