AMA calling for transparent road safety data, including eScooters

The AMA is committed to advocating for improvements in the way Australians drive, the vehicles they drive, and the roads they drive on.  This includes understanding the ever-evolving road technologies that have impacts on health and safety.

The AMA’s recently released Road User Safety position statement, updates road safety calls related to health, as well as addressing the increasing injury risk that e-mobility devices pose.

E-mobility devices have become a more environmentally friendly and convenient transport option for many Australians. The introduction of e-scooter hiring services, and increased use of e-scooters around Australia, requires increased public awareness and infrastructure changes. The AMA recommends increased education and training, improved pathways and infrastructure, and appropriate regulations for their design, use and interaction on public roads.

The AMA echoes and supports the calls made by the national peak motoring body, Australian Automobile Association and affiliated partners, that states and territories must share their road safety data with the federal government. This includes improved data on e-scooter injury and deaths, which are currently reported differently across the states and territories, making data impossible to collate and analyse. 

The AMA believes that a top priority of governments must be to improve the collection, analysis and reporting of national road accident data, as a top priority of governments, to better understand the causes of crashes, and the health cost of road trauma, and reduce road trauma.