Riders may be forced to register electric scooters, bikes

Queensland’s electric scooter and bike users could be forced to register their devices to boost police powers to enforce dangerous or illegal use, an inquiry has heard.

Senior police fronted a parliamentary committee on Monday, where they were asked if legal electric bikes and scooters should be registered like mobility scooters and included in a broader definition of “motor vehicles”.

Inspector Gareth Bosley said there was no existing need for such users to register their devices, but classing them as motor vehicles would help unlock more powers to deal with their use on roads.

“I think that’s another good opportunity for us,” replied Jim McDonald, the Queensland government MP who chairs the state development, infrastructure and works committee.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Adam Guild said his agency’s main problems were stopping illegal or dangerously used devices safely, identifying which were illegal, and preventing their use.

Hire e-scooters arrived in Brisbane in late 2018, and their popularity has surged in the years since. But so have injuries and deaths.

The deaths of two boys in e-bike crashes last month – one on the Sunshine Coast, and one on the Gold Coast – added to pressure on the Crisafulli government to take action.

This weekend, there were 13 scooter and bike hospitalisations over one 12-hour period.

Under an operation launched in early November, dubbed “Xray Surety”, police have issued 2255 fines – with South Brisbane a hotspot. About half went to riders not wearing helmet.

While Premier David Crisafulli has promised action, he has said this will not happen before the parliamentary inquiry delivers its report by the end of March.

On Monday, the inquiry also heard from a school principal with a plan to issue licences to students bringing the vehicles onto school grounds, as a way to help educate kids, identify riders, and stop theft.

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School executive principal Chris Carra said the scheme would roll out at his school when students return next year.

Carra said he had seen a recent boom in e-bike use, with up to 500 students riding them, despite concerns from the community about their use on public paths or roads.

The system, which would see students educated about safe use and given an identification plate allowing them to bring their device onto the grounds, is based on one being trialled in Sydney.

This would balance concern about tracking down those doing the wrong thing and device theft, with benefits parents raise about the ability for kids travel to school and other activities.

“We unfortunately have had a local fatality. I now have two students at my school who have permanent brain injuries as a result of accidents. We are still receiving a hospitalisation a week,” Carra said.

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