Six hospitalised overnight from Gold Coast to Townsville
Six people, including a primary school-aged child in Brisbane, were taken to hospital overnight from the Gold Coast to Townsville after crashes involving e-scooters or e-bikes.
In the seven hours from 7.30pm on Friday until the early hours of Saturday morning, paramedics were called to six crashes, as well as an e-scooter fire in Kawana where no one was injured.
The primary school-age boy was taken to Queensland Children’s Hospital with leg injuries following an “e-scooter and pedestrian accident” on South Brisbane’s Gray Street just before 10pm.
On the Gold Coast, a teenage boy was hospitalized in a stable condition with a leg injury after falling off an e-bike in Helensvale, while another suffered a head injury after a scooter fall in Coomera.
Three other e-scooter crashes in Townsville, Rockhampton and Hervey Bay left three women in their 20s, 30s and 40s with minor injuries, including one with a facial injury.
Hire e-scooters first hit Brisbane streets in late 2018, and the popularity of both shared and private devices has been growing ever since (along with sanctions and injuries).
The e-bike deaths of two children in November increased pressure on Crisafulli’s government to take action on the number of injuries and deaths across the state.
Prime Minister David Crisafulli promised to take action, but did not do so until the end of March before the parliamentary inquiry presented its report.
That inquiry, which considered the vehicles’ benefits as well as safety issues, implementation challenges and laws regarding importing high-powered variants, held its last block of public hearings in December.
Before Christmas, the government placed the responsibility for the safety of vehicles on parents, especially warning families not to buy illegal, high-powered models for their children.
But key groups including the RACQ and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons have called on police to step up enforcement of existing laws to remove illegal electric bikes and scooters from the streets.
Police had previously told the inquiry they could not pursue people driving dangerously or illegally because any pursuit could endanger pedestrians.
The most common fines issued to e-scooter riders across the state are for not wearing a helmet.
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Matt Dennien is a reporter for the Brisbane Times covering state politics and public services. He previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email.
