Auckland Council wants to reduce Lime speed limit to 10kmh
Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Auckland Council plans to reduce the speed limit for Lime e-scooters.
The council says it has spent about $10,000 on posters, bus stop signs and social media posts as part of its Scoot Safe campaign.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff called for an urgent council report to look at the safety concerns surrounding e-scooters in the region after a councillor was almost hit, late last month.
Goff will be making a submission to the Transport Minister Phil Twyford later this week where he will also outline other changes for the safety of riding e-scooters including reducing the speed limit to 10kmh on footpaths, the use of helmets and police using enforcement for reckless behaviour.
**READ MORE:
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When asked if this campaign had come too late because of the injuries caused by the e-scooters already, Goff said the council had not 'anticipated they would take off so quickly'.
'E-scooters are not a fad. We don't want to be the fun-police but we do want to keep people safe,' Goff said.
He said the 'low-cost' safety campaign was the first step in reducing ACC and injury numbers.
There were 67 ACC claims from injuries that were e-scooter-related since Lime, 44 in Auckland, 22 in Christchurch in the first two weeks of its introduction.
Lime has also partnered with Eden Park and will be hosting its first Rider Safety Summit on December 1 to educate users on the importance of responsible scooter usage.
This is part of its $3 million investment to help empower people across the world to ride responsibly.
Goff said the council's campaign with Auckland Transport had not been funded by Lime.
'I applaud Lime is setting up seminars to promote the safety and that is a responsibility on the hire companies. They have to be responsible for the people riding their scooters.'
Businesses have also used Lime to promote their products and services.
Last week insurance company AMI promoted its contents policy on Twitter using the rise in ACC claims related to e-scooter injuries.
Strip club Calendar Girls offered customers free entry and a drink if they showed up to the club on a Lime.
The latest is Eden Park, which has partnered with the company to become an e-scooter 'hot spot' with dedicated Lime parking areas, juicing stations, regular rider safety workshops and event integrations.
The Scoot Safe posters had six bullet points promoting safe riding:
- Ears out, eyes up (pay attention at all times; look where you're going and don't use mobile devices while on a scooter)
- Cars hurt – scoot where it's safe (while the road rules allow e-scooters to use the road, we recommend considering this carefully; separated cycleways are also ok – but not cycleways that are part of the road network).
- It's cool to wear a lid (it's always recommended to wear a helmet)
- Keep it cruisy and enjoy the ride (watch your speed; a slower trip can also be an enjoyable one)
- One scooterist per scooter (this is a condition of use and an important safety consideration)
- Avoid people, it's the best way forward. (share the footpath, road or cycleway with care; pedestrians have every right to be on footpaths too and we don't want to see them knocked over)
This story has been updated to correct an earlier cost for the campaign of $3500 provided by mayor Phil Goff.