Injury Prevention Week – 27th June – 1st July

The focus of this year’s Injury Prevention Week is e-scooters – something we’re currently reading a lot about in the press, especially following the Queen’s speech which revealed a law change to legalise the use of privately-owned e-scooters on public roads.

It’s estimated that this will lead to an influx of up to 750,000 e-scooters on the roads. With the scale of use set to significantly increase, safety is an important issue for everyone, whether they use e-scooters or not - in 2021 there were nearly 900 casualties from collisions involving e-scooters, some injuries were catastrophic and some incidents resulted in death.

During Injury Prevention Week this year we, along with APIL and Major Trauma Group, want to highlight the legislative and practical measures which could help protect people and reduce the number of these incidents.

Following the Queen’s speech, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety produced a briefing note listing its evidence-based recommendations regarding e-scooter use and construction. These include recommendations of:

• A maximum speed of 12.5 miles per hour
• Lighting to be mandatory at all times
• An audible warning device to be mandatory
• Helmet wearing to be mandatory
• Rider age limit of at least 16 years
• Carrying of a passenger to be prohibited
• Drink driving and mobile phone use to be prohibited

You can read the full PACTS briefing note here.