New e-scooter laws being introduced into South Australian parliament will leave victims of crashes without protection, legal experts have warned.
The state government will introduce the laws this week, making it legal to ride a privately owned e-scooter on public roads and paths.
But the current proposal doesn’t require owners to register or insure the devices.
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The Law Society of South Australia’s Tony Kerin said that would mean victims of crashes would have to take civil action against a rider who causes them serious injury.
He said victims risk not being paid if the defendant doesn’t have the assets to compensate them.
“The injuries you can suffer on the use of a scooter can be quite substantial and there have been instances of that around Australia already,” Kerin said
“If you’re in a motor vehicle and someone has an accident and leaves the scene, and you don’t get the registration, there’s the nominal defendant’s scheme which is set up to cover that incident, any registration or insurance scheme would also or should cover that.
“(For scooters) it’s the luck of the draw. (It) depends on who hits you and whether they have sufficient assets to satisfy any legal claim or entitlement you have,” he said.
Doctors in Melbourne made a public plea for people to careful on e-scooters after Royal Melbourne Hospital reported 256 patients were admitted to the hospital in 12 months, putting a strain on elective surgery wait times.
Simon Michalak was hit by an e-scooter on a footpath in Melbourne and smashed his head on the pavement.
The teenagers who crashed into him scooted off with no accountability, he said.
He called the South Australian government’s proposed laws “dangerous and irresponsible”.
“When I was sent to the hospital, there were several others, including a guy in his 80s who’d also been hit by a scooter the same day,” Michalak said.
“If they did hit someone, and they did cause serious harm, where’s the accountability?
“The government, if they aren’t careful and don’t consider a third-party rule, they could be the third party that’s responsible.”
South Australian Minister for infrastructure and transport Tom Koutsantonis said treating e-scooters like a motor vehicle was “a regulatory burden that is too high.”
“Every other jurisdiction is treating them as bicycles, and we’re going to do the same here,” he said.
A recent public consultation on the laws found 76 per cent of respondents supported riders not being required to hold a licence, while 68 per cent didn’t see a need to register or insure their devices.
“If we want to have a complete nanny state where we have a regulatory burden over everyone, why not pedestrians as well?
“I think we got the balance right,” Koutsantonis said.
If the laws pass parliament, regulations will mean riders will have to be older than 16-years-old to rider unsupervised, they will be required to wear a helmet at all times and cannot ride while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
On roads and bike paths, the speed limit for e-scooters will be 25km/h while on footpaths it will be 15km/h.
Koutsantonis said he expects the regulations will protect pedestrians and other road users from serious injuries.
He said the regulations will be consulted on with other stakeholders and can be changed once the bill passes at the end of 2024 or early 2025.