Guide Dogs charity calls for ‘dangerous’ e-scooters to be banned from pavements

Guide Dogs charity calls for 'dangerous' e-scooters to be banned from pavements
Information Canine house owners say incidents with e-scooters injury their confidence (Image: Getty Pictures)

Pavements should be made safer with a clamp down on the ‘unlawful use’ of e-scooters, campaigners have stated.

The ‘silent nature’ of the machines makes it onerous for blind and partially sighted individuals to listen to them.

A petition has now been delivered to No 10 as a part of a bid to induce politicians to take motion.

It comes as a brand new survey from the Information Canines charity revealed a complete of 6,321 privately owned e-scooters have been confiscated by police in 2021.

The figures, obtained by way of a Freedom of Data request, additionally present that 21 police forces recorded at the very least 264 e-scooter offences.

Information Canines has launched the figures as its petition, with over 42,194 signatures, is delivered to the prime minister.

He has been referred to as upon to ‘make pavements safer.’

Elaine Maries, one of many Information Canines service customers handing within the e-scooter petition to the Prime Minister, has been knocked over twice by e-scooters.

Scale of illegal e-scooter use revealed as Guide Dogs hands in petition to No 10 Laura Drew with guide dog Jimmy, Samantha Leftwich with guide dog Lizzie, Elaine Maries with guide dog Inca
Laura Drew with Jimmy, Samantha Leftwich and Lizzie and Elaine Maries with Inca at Downing Road right now (Image: Theodore Wooden Pictures)

She stated: ‘It's onerous to keep away from e-scooters after they come up behind you and you can not hear them.

‘The primary time I used to be hit by an e-scooter was simply outdoors my home in Might 2021, when two younger individuals using the identical e-scooter hit me inflicting me to fall over into my information canine Inca.

‘They only acquired up and simply rode away however I used to be left bruised, and my information canine Inca pulled a muscle in her leg, placing her out of motion for six weeks and me with out my information canine.

‘Two months later I tripped over an e-scooter left on the pavement and fractured my foot.

‘What individuals don't realise is when one thing like this occurs, that's my full independence gone.’

Woman with E-Scooter, partial view
Campaigners have referred to as on Mr Johnson to take motion on ‘unlawful’ e-scooter use (Image: Getty Pictures)

Simply this week, a girl died after she was hit by an e-scooter being ridden by a 14-year-old boy in Nottinghamshire.

Linda Davis, 71, was on the pavement when she was hit by the scooter in Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, on June 2.

She was the primary pedestrian to have died following an e-scooter crash.

Campaigners hope additional laws may guarantee a second demise by no means follows.

The Information Canines petition calls on Mr Johnson to launch a public info marketing campaign to cease unlawful use of e-scooters.

It additionally has urged the prime minister to work with police to ensure they're implementing the regulation, and to publish his plan on laws.

Scale of illegal e-scooter use revealed as Guide Dogs hands in petition to No 10 Laura Drew with guide dog Jimmy, Samantha Leftwich with guide dog Lizzie, Elaine Maries with guide dog Inca
The petition, organised by the Information Canines charity, was handed to No 10 right now (Image: Theodore Wooden Pictures)

Earlier analysis carried out on behalf of the Information Canines charity discovered that 75% of individuals with sight loss who had encountered an e-scooter had already had a unfavorable expertise.

Alarmingly, 12% of respondents reported their mobility support or cane being hit by an e-scooter.

And one in ten individuals with sight loss had been hit, however not injured, by an e-scooter.

Some blind and partially-sighted individuals have taken to avoiding sure elements of city to ensure they keep away from dangers of an accident, the charity additionally discovered.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives with his dog Dilyn at the Methodist Hall in central London to cast his vote in local elections on May 5, 2022. - Polls opened across the UK in local and regional elections that could prove historic in Northern Ireland and heap further pressure on embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson has been urged to do extra to enhance highway security (Image: AFP)

Individuals with sight loss expressed additionally raised considerations in regards to the silent nature of e-scooters – which makes them onerous to detect and keep away from.

Chris Theobald, senior coverage, public affairs and campaigns supervisor at Information Canines, stated: ‘The Authorities has signalled that wider laws of e-scooters is probably going within the upcoming Transport Invoice.

‘If the Authorities are critical about increasing the usage of e-scooters, they should urgently prioritise security.

‘Any plans to legalise e-scooters should handle their velocity, weight, and sound, with clear guidelines to observe to make sure they're saved off pavements and used on the highway alongside different motorised autos.

‘Within the meantime, extra will be performed to sort out unlawful use, and to teach the general public.

‘It's crucial that the federal government considers the wants of everybody particularly people who find themselves blind or partially sighted.’

.

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post