Police will be cracking down on e-scooter riders ahead of the introduction of a suite of safety measures later in the year, the Queensland government has said.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey announced the changes to e-scooter rules, flagged in February, would take effect from November 1.
The changes will see speed limits for riders on most footpaths slashed from 25 kilometres per hour down to 12kph.
E-scooters will also need to be equipped with a bell – or similar warning device – and penalties for those caught misbehaving will also increase.
The penalties, yet to be detailed, are for high-risk offences, like speeding, using a mobile phone while riding, and riding on prohibited roads.
Mr Bailey said police would ramp up statewide efforts to enforce e-scooter offences in coming weeks, in anticipation of the changes.
"What we do see is while most of these scooter riders are doing the right thing in terms of speed, we still see some private scooter riders out there doing well over 25 kilometres an hour," he said.
"I've seen it myself, they might be doing 45, 50 even – that's the equivalent of someone driving a car at 150 because it's not what is safe for other road users.
"If you're one of these people doing those sorts of things, and thinking you're going below the radar, well, it's just a matter of time before you get caught – and if your device is non-compliant, we're looking at provisions there as well," Mr Bailey said.
Acting Sergeant Duncan Hill from Brisbane City Road Policing said a targeted operation to catch e-scooter offenders coming to and from work in Brisbane's CBD would begin from June 20.
"At peak hour, we're finding that's becoming a time of confluence and issues between riders of PMDs and with pedestrians," he said.
"We'll be then moving into our Safe Night Precincts, targeting users in those areas, especially intoxication and speed.
"In the month following, we'll start moving to those regional areas where these scooters currently are."
The number of people caught riding without a helmet between March 2021 and February this year was 1,824, while 31 people were caught using mobile phones.
He said police were increasingly seeing drink riders in the state's entertainment precincts.
"We're having more incidents within our city precincts where people are driving riding PMDs (e-scooters) while intoxicated, and this is causing a problem for them and our hospitals," he said.
He said, while a Brisbane council initiative to lock Beam and Neuron e-scooters between 12am and 5am on weekends in the city's entertainment precincts had reduced e-scooter offending, the numbers remained too high.
"Way too many people are riding [e-scooters] while intoxicated, and they're placing themselves often that passenger — illegally — at risk," Seargeant Hill said.
