Police have pledged to take action on illegal e-scooter use after new figures showed more than 70 collisions involving the vehicles were reported in Nottinghamshire last year. Government data shows that of those incidents in 2021, 37 involved privately-owned vehicles, which are not legally allowed on public roads, pavements or cycle lanes.
The only exception to the law is using rental e-scooters as part of Government-run trials of e-scooters, which are currently taking place in around 30 areas, including Nottingham. Last year, 33 e-scooter crashes in Nottinghamshire were known to be part of rental schemes.
The figures released by the Government are based on police force areas and Nottinghamshire's overall total of 74 incidents is the second worst in the country. The worst is the Metropolitan Police area, with 510 incidents.
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Chief Inspector Simon Allardice, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “As a force our priority is to keep people safe and we would urge people to fully understand the law and the implications of using an e-scooter on a road or other public place.
"We will continue to take appropriate and proportionate action against those who break the law and will investigate reports such as the dangerous or antisocial riding of these vehicles.”
Superpedestrian runs the Link e-scooters in Nottingham and allows anyone with a full or provisional driving license to use them. E-scooters that are part of the government trial are limited to 15.5 miles per hour.
Since the start of the e-scooter trial in the city in October 2020, riders have taken 1.6 million trips. The company has recently implemented a £1 unlock fee for the scooters but it does not seem to have put people off using them.
A spokesperson for Superpedestrian said: "We’ve seen around 120,000 trips since the unlock fee was introduced. We’re seeing a very comparable number of trips since the unlock fee, and we often see days with more ridership than before."
In 2020, six people were injured in collisions involving e-scooters in Nottingham. However, the rental schemes were not introduced until the Autumn and lockdown is likely to have played a role in the low figures.
A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “Safety has been the number one priority from the outset of the national trial, which started in October 2020. A number of measures have been introduced to minimise incidents caused by hired e-scooters in Nottingham aimed at protecting pedestrians, combating poor parking and constantly increasing rider knowledge.
“E-scooters have now been hired around 1.5million times in Nottingham since the scheme began. We continue to work with the operator to monitor and improve safety further.”
Currently, information on how many collisions involve rental e-scooters or private scooters may be inconsistent - information is usually recorded in a free text field on the accident report, and not all officers add the information. Based on national figures, most of those injured are likely to have been the person using the e-scooter.
Across Britain, there were 1,280 collisions involving e-scooters and of those collisions involved 1,359 casualties. 1,034 casualties in collisions involving e-scooters last year were e-scooter users. Among others injured were 223 pedestrians, 64 cyclists, 14 motorcyclists and 17 people in cars.
Across the UK there were nine people killed in collisions involving e-scooters and all of whom were e-scooter riders. Of those slightly injured in the collisions, common injuries include slight cuts, bruising, and sprains.
More serious injuries include head injuries or broken arms and legs - three people sustained a broken neck or back and three people had internal injuries last year. E-scooter users who were injured were much more likely to be men - around three-quarters of casualties, where gender was recorded. They were most likely to be aged between 10 and 19, followed by those aged 20 to 29.
