E-scooters and E-bikes: Regulation Debate
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Mark Sewards
Main Page: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)Department Debates - View all Mark Sewards's debates with the Department for Transport
E-scooters and E-bikes: Regulation
Mark Sewards Excerpts(1 day, 18 hours ago)
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Helen Maguire
I absolutely agree: this is one of the matters that the Minister needs to take forward.
We have the issues of illegally modified e-scooters, which can now reach speeds of up to 70 mph; e-bikes, which are catching fire due to uncertified lithium-ion batteries; and the use of e-vehicles in criminal activity and antisocial behaviour, as the hon. Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) alluded to. Pedestrians have the fundamental right to feel safe. They should not need to worry about being hit or knocked over when simply walking in the park or on the streets. That is particularly important for vulnerable groups, especially those with vision loss or mobility needs.
Mark Sewards (Leeds South West and Morley) (Lab)
I thank the hon. Member for making such a strong argument. Along with other hon. Members, I recently met representatives of Guide Dogs for the Blind. They made a strong case for visually impaired and blind people, who are often put off going out on to their own streets, due to the silent nature of e-scooters and e-bikes. Does she agree that that point alone underscores the need to enforce the law properly in this area?
Helen Maguire
I absolutely agree. This is a critical issue for the high number of visually impaired people living in Swail House in Epsom in my constituency.
There are flaws in the current collision data. In 2023, there were at least 1,299 collisions involving e-scooters, but those statistics do not show the full picture. How can they, when the data is not consistently collected or identified? Data on death and injuries in reported road collisions is reported to the Department for Transport by police forces in Great Britain via STATS19. A new powered personal transporter category was introduced to cover e-scooters, but not all forces currently use the new specification. I urge the Minister to enforce the use of the new STATS19 specification for all police forces, so that we can understand exactly what is going on.