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E-scootersE-scooter rider arrested after cyclist left with “life-threatening” injuries in hit-and-run collision – as local police launch crackdown on “constant problem” of e-scooter misuse
An e-scooter user who fled the scene after colliding with a cyclist at the weekend, leaving her with serious injuries, has been arrested, as local police launch a crackdown on the “constant problem” of e-scooter “misuse” in the area.
The collision took place at around 8pm on Sunday on Ridegway in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, a road with a shared cycling and pedestrian path on either side of the carriageway.
After the e-scooter rider failed to stop at the scene, the cyclist – a woman in her forties – was taken to hospital with what Hertfordshire Constabulary described as “potentially life-threatening injuries”.
According to the latest police update, the cyclist is currently in a “serious but stable” condition in hospital.
Following an initial appeal for witnesses and footage of the incident, Hertfordshire Constabulary have since confirmed that a 20-year-old man from Hatfield has been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and causing serious injury while disqualified. He remains in custody for questioning.
Ridgeway, Welwyn Garden City
In a statement issued following the arrest, Welwyn Hatfield Chief Inspector Pete Frost warned riders that their e-scooter will be seized if they are caught riding it on the road, pavement, or cycleway.
“I would like to issue a reminder that it is currently against the law to ride e-scooters on public land anywhere in Hertfordshire,” he said. “We will be carrying out regular patrols in Welwyn Hatfield and targeting those who use e-scooters in this area.
“E-scooters can only be used on private land with the landowner’s permission. While they can be used on public land as part of a government trial, there are no trials taking place anywhere in the county at this time.
“If you are caught riding one on a public highway, pavement, or cycle lane it could be seized by the police. You could also be reported for driving offences which would lead to significant penalty points and a fine.”
> E-scooters and the law: When and where are you legally allowed to ride an electric scooter?
In a renewed appeal for witnesses, Detective Sergeant Shona Birkby, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, added: “Our enquiries are continuing, and I am appealing for any witnesses to please come forward.
“Were you driving in the area at the time and saw what happened? Additionally, if you have a dash cam fitted, please check it as you may have recorded some crucial footage to assist our investigation.”
Anyone with information is asked to email Detective Sergeant Birkby, use the force’s online reporting or web chat portal, or call the non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference 41/62411/24.
> Illegal e-scooter rider crashes into cyclist – but police refuse to try and track down culprit
In the wake of the serious collision in Welwyn Garden City, officers in nearby Stevenage have also launched an operation targeting the misuse of e-scooters, seizing two of the vehicles in the process after their riders were reported for not having the relevant insurance, with one also reported for riding without a licence.
“E-scooter use is a constant problem in the town centre and now the holiday season is upon us, it is likely to increase,” PC Jack Pickering, who is leading the crackdown in Stevenage, said.
> E-scooters five times safer for riders than bicycles, claims RoSPA study
“To this end we will be carrying out regular patrols in the town, targeting those who use e-scooters in this area.
“If you are caught riding an e-scooter on a public highway, park, pavement or cycle lane, it could be seized, and you will be reported for driving offences which could lead to significant penalty points (if you currently hold a driving licence) and a fine.
“If you are a parent letting your child ride an e-scooter in public, you will be the one found responsible and this could affect your own driving licence.”
As noted by Hertfordshire Constabulary, while e-scooters can be rented as part of official trials, riding privately-owned e-scooters on public roads is currently illegal in the UK.
In 2022 the then-Conservative government announced that the vehicles would be made legal through the creation of a low-speed, zero-emission vehicle category.
But this move – described as “complex” by former transport minister Guy Opperman – has been delayed several times, despite various charities, e-scooter operators, and retailers calling for the government to bring forward legislation.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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26 comments
"arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and causing serious injury while disqualified"
Sounds like he's already been caught driving dangerously. Perhaps certain people are a danger no matter what their mode of transport, although obviously some of those forms can be more damaging than others.
“I would like to issue a reminder that it is currently against the law to ride e-scooters on public land anywhere in Hertfordshire.” Basically, this is true of the entire country not just Hertfordshire. Only council endorsed may be used on the roads where trials exist, like here in sunny Manchester.
Funny though, I see illegal e-bikes and e-scooters tootling past the Greater Manchester Police Headquarters and the North Manchester Division Police Station on a daily basis. All they need to do is get an officer or two to stand outside their front door and grab them as they pass by. They could make hundreds of arrests just by nabbing Deliveroo and Just Eat riders around the city in general. After all, who has seen a rider working for any of these companies riding a standard pushbike?! Odds on, they're riding illegal e-bikes...
.
I think they said that, Peter:
Yeah, I realised after posting that, that I should have read their comment properly first, so I deleted my comment.
Sorry, yeah, I replied to your comment before you deleted it (obviously…).
Got to say, I get caught out replying to something that either the article or OP never said, or pointing out that they didn't say something that they did, all the time…
Police officers are the problem - I have just followed NCN Route 5 from near Chester to Llandudno. Illegal electric motorbikes and scooters everywhere. The police could easily capture and confiscate many of them and the problem would soon end in many areas
Not to mention the significant Venn overlap between users of illegal modes of transport such as private e-scooters and beyond classification e-bikes, and street level drug dealers.
The police could do so much to improve the sense of security in towns and cities across the country by stopping every one they see, destroying the vehicle and searching the rider for possession with intent to supply.
Im a bit conflicted on E scooters, on one hand I'd rather they were on a scooter than in a car but they are becoming a pain on my commutes both through Pottyborough and WGC. The ones I find most annoying are those with stupily bright lights on the footpath when I'm going the opposite way on road and the light is pointing straight into my face.
Because they are illegal, there is no MOT headlight test.
Much regulation on speed and safety generally is required.
Modal shift from EVs to electric motorcycles is a net benefit but cannot compromise the safety of vulnerable road users; pedestrians, horse riders, cyclists and motorcyclists.
We need to license, test and make them get number plates. Its the only way to hold them accountable. Oh wait.
Yes we do need to hold them accountable as they are riding electric motorcycles.
Low capacity motorcycles (scooters) already do this. QED
e-Scooters are illegal to use anywhere other than on private land, and the law is very clear, so the Police need to own this.
Or the Govt could own this and legalise them... just sayin'
True, and "never gonna win them over to cycling"* and "harm minimisation".
Luckily new e-things are an answer ... to selling more things (with shorter obsolescence and zero user- / apparently low local 3rd party maintainability). And to worries about "transport" - without having to address our imbalanced system (including sorting out neglected public transport).
They're not a solution to the things that governments and councils keep saying: "active travel" and "address some negatives with motoring", "resilience" or "green". Also not addressing "protecting pedestrians - especially the old and those with disabilities".
Clearly though in the UK querying why we don't just push the "obvious" solution which ticks all those boxes e.g. the plain old bicycle (plus EPACs) ** isn't done. Seems that goes over as well as e.g. demanding the return of the penny farthing.
* Except ... in the several countries / places where in fact they have, even some where there was essentially no cycling before, and even to a minor extent in a couple of UK places)
** Ticks most boxes - except perhaps "disruptors" getting chunks of cash quick. Perhaps also old tech can't "break into a market"?
And indeed, planned to do so*. I confess to finding both private escooters and the hire versions annoying, along with bikes ridden slower or faster than mine. But I don't fear them as I fear motor vehicles. I even think they have a role in increasing active travel, because riders get/stay used to being outside and having to carry the items they need in a manner that translates to walking and cycling.
* https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/queens-speech-2022-transport/#heading-12
Hmm, not how I see them progressing.
Not as problematic as large motor vehicles but I don't see these leading towards more active travel at all. More the opposite.
From my observed anecdata I see the e-scooters being used as an alternative to walking. Or cycling, if people cycled, which most don't. Or "toys".
They do have a particular pro, which is their tiny folded size - so good for those with eg. no cycle storage space. And you can take them anywhere (barring rules) eg. on public transport.
Mostly seem to be ridden on footway.
Fair enough. Maybe the sunshine has made me more optimistic than usual.
Here in Edinburgh there's a good boost to numbers from "fair weather cyclists" for sure!
(Of course places as diverse as NL (windy, wet) , Seville (hot) and Oulu (snowy) show it's not just "but weather" keeping UK cycling at low levels.)
Isn't at least part of the problem, that shops can happily sell these scooters and that the buyers don't realise that they're not allowed to ride them on public land? The Man on the Clapham E-Scooter can't easily see the difference between an illegal privately owned scooter and a legal rental-scheme one, I suspect.
I hope that the cyclist in this case recovers soon.
It's "not very plausible deniability" I'd say. Has anyone actually bought such a thing? If so - do the shop staff take you through the rules? Currys - it wasn't obvious when looking at scooters in the store. Online they've got a bit of text with a disclaimer / warning.
I imagine most customers ignore this completely, even if their attention has been drawn to it. Think this one falls under "common sense" e.g. "they sell them in the shops, people are using them around the place, I've never seen the police interested or nicking people doing so. So ..."
Online places go further. I can agree with Ashley Neal's "bike review" in which he's not impressed by proudly DGAF sales staff encouraging him to ride it and dodge the law with his fully-illegal-to-ride-almost-everywhere electric motorbike.
Well as the whole of the top deck of the Clapham omnibus knows, road crime isn't "real crime" is it.
The five-o need to be going after real criminals! Like lydra clad ruffians that go around doing things that most drivers do, only on a vehicle that gets
propoganda channelsthe MSM all giddy with rage.Think there's a typo there - you meant "lyrca".
Just "Lydra" shurely? A monster with many parts - you knock one over but more keep riding in their place.
Don't tell me what I meant - you monster.
I have fat fingers, stop shaming me. I could get a job writinhg (deliberate FFS) headlines at top national media outlets after all.
They have tiny number plates on the back mudguard.