At least 57 pedestrians were injured after being hit by e-scooters across the UK last year, new figures from the Department of Transport (DfT) have shown.
The electronic vehicles have started to become popular forms of transport over the last couple of years, although privately owned e-scooters are not legally allowed on roads or pavements.
A number of e-scooter rental schemes have been launched since July 2020, as part of government trials, but these have been met with some criticism.
The DfT figures have revealed 13 of the 57 people injured over the last year were left in a “serious” condition.
Twenty-two people in other vehicles and 21 cyclists were also involved in collisions with the scooters.
The majority of those who were injured were recorded as being aged at least 40, while nine were 70 and above, and eight children aged under 10 were also injured.
The figures also showed that one e-scooter user was killed, with a further 383 also injured last year.
Around two-thirds of those injured on an e-scooter were aged under 30. This included 123 people who were 20-29, as well as 118 who were 10 to 19-years-old, and two others who were under 10.
However, the figures did not say whether the incidents involved privately-owned e-scooters or rental e-scooters.
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Bryn Brooker, head of marketing and road safety at Nextbase, has issued advice about how e-scooters could be used more safely.
He said: “It will come as no surprise that we have seen an increase in the amount of serious e-scooter collisions from our dash cam users.
“We suggest that motorists take extra time to check their surroundings before they make any manoeuvres, always give e-scooter riders at least 1.5 metres of space when overtaking, and do not alarm them by beeping your horn or speeding up, this is likely to cause riders to lose concentration.
“We recommend that drivers use dash cams to capture any incident involving an e-scooter.
“This footage is accepted by all UK police forces and major insurance companies as proof of liability, helping protect motorists’ claims where there is a collision with an uninsured e-scooter.”
