It is illegal to ride an electric scooter in public areas unless part of a Government-backed trial. Over the past three years, the Department for Transport (DfT) has run a series of trial schemes across the UK to help inform the regulation of e-scooters.
Some schemes have been extended until May 2024 to further insight into the integration of the environmentally-friendly mode of transportation.
Speaking at a transport select committee meeting on Wednesday, May 17, Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Technology Jesse Norman said the trials have “yielded a great deal of information and insight as to how people are using e-scooters”.
However, a new Express.co.uk poll has revealed that 85 percent of readers think they should be banned from Britain’s roads.
The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) has recorded 32 deaths involving e-scooters since 2019. Earlier this year Queen Mary University researchers found that e-scooter riders involved in an accident are more likely to sustain more serious injuries than cyclists.
In a poll that ran from 3pm on Wednesday, May 17, to midday on Thursday, May 18, Express.co.uk asked readers: “Should e-scooters be banned from Britain’s streets?”
A total of 1,970 readers responded, with a staggering 85 percent (1,678 people) answering “yes” they should be banned. Whereas 14 percent (282 people) said “no” and one percent (10 people) did not know.
Dozens of comments were left below the accompanying article as readers shared their thoughts on the safety of e-scooters.
Many readers argued that e-scooters have no place in Britain, with username pippa21406 describing them as “a total menace on roads and pavements”.
Username Kernow T agreed that they should be banned, commenting: “E-scooters just don’t fit in. Lethal on pavements and equally lethal on roads. “
Meanwhile, username pauldenton remarked: “Yes, the Government did the right thing in trialling them, but it’s clear that the trial has failed.”
Other readers commented that if e-scooters are banned then cyclists should face the same treatment. Username Modred explained: “If you want to ban scooters then you also need to ban bikes. There is not one thing people have against scooters that does not also apply to bikes.”
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