Dublin City Council chief warns of ‘conflict’ between e-scooter users, pedestrians and cyclists

A local authority CEO has “no doubt” that there will be “conflict” between pedestrians, cyclists and the rising number of e-scooter users.

Owen Keegan, CEO of Dublin City Council said local authority statistics show that there have been 11 reported incidents within Dublin City Parks since August 2015.

Mr Keegan made his remarks following a question submitted by Independent councillor Mannix Flynn. Mr Flynn asked how many accidents regarding e-scooter users and cyclists have been reported, and how they are enforcing the no cycling and e-scooter laws within parks.

In a written response, Mr Keegan said: “Given the millions of park visits over this time, this is a relatively small number of reported incidents.

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“Anecdotally, however, there is no doubt that with increased cycling and the sale of e-scooters the conflict between pedestrians and cyclists/scooters will become a greater problem.”

The Road Traffic and Roads Bill, 2021, is set to go before the cabinet before being signed into law in the coming weeks, paving the way for the use of shared electric scooter schemes in Irish towns and cities while also setting rules for private electric scooter users.

The Bill is a broad piece of legislation that allows for Eamon Ryan, the Minister for Transport, to introduce regulations to govern the lawful use on public roads of Powered Personal Transports (PPTs) which includes scooters, hoverboards, and future innovations.

The Bill was last debated in the Seanad at committee stage on February 1st. As a result of issues arising on that date regarding data protection for detection cameras on bus corridors, it is awaiting further proposed amendments, before which will be proposed in the Seanad at report stage.

The use of private electric scooters should be legal by late summer or early autumn. At this time, local councils nationwide are also likely to begin completing bye-laws and issuing tenders to operate shared e-scooters schemes in their jurisdictions.

An international road safety organisation has called for a 20km/h factory set speed limit for e-scooters and larger wheels as part of a range of common technical standards to be applied to such vehicles across Europe.

The European Transport Safety Council has also recommended that the use of helmets should be made compulsory for using e-scooters, as well as a minimum age of 16.

The ETSC – whose members include the Road Safety Authority in Ireland – has also proposed a ban on the use of e-scooters on footpaths as well as users carrying passengers.