Submission to inquiry into e-mobility safety and use in Queensland

In response to the concerning number of fatalities and injuries from e-scooter and e-bike use, the Queensland Government has launched a Parliamentary Inquiry into personal e-mobility devices to improve safety and address community concerns. 

Doctors are horrified at the rapid increase in e-mobility injuries and deaths they are witnessing in our hospitals, especially of children. Our members have reported treating soft tissue damage, facial injuries including lost teeth and serious head injuries. 

Medical practitioners are also rightly frustrated that e-mobility harms unnecessarily increase the stress on our overloaded public hospitals and health services at a time when they are experiencing some of the highest rates of burnout reported. 

This inquiry presents an opportunity to urgently halt further deaths and harms through much-needed regulation and active travel investment and to relieve our health workforce of avoidable patient cases. 

Our submission urges the Committee to prioritise community safety and implement sensible regulations including:

• Restriction of riders to persons aged 16 years and older.
• Mandatory, evidence-based maximum speed limitations on all e-mobility devices.
• Review of current speed limits to ensure these are evidence-based and provide adequate protection for pedestrians and all e-mobility and other vehicle users.
• Improved enforcement of speed limits on public roads, drug and blood alcohol levels in line with legislation and mandated wearing of approved helmets.
• Compulsory code-compliant safety equipment in line with relevant safety standards.

These recommendations are fully set out in this submission.

We also urge the Committee to recommend the Queensland Government to:

• invest in separated road-e-mobility-pedestrian infrastructure, 
• implement statewide education campaign, 
• provide adequate policing and other resources to enforce existing and new regulations, 
• advocate for consistent regulation, and
• improve automobile technologies.

Lastly, we have also urged the Committee to make supporting recommendations for greater investment in active travel by the Queensland Government. This is aligned with the recommendations outlined in our Active Travel Position Statement.

Read our submission here