Concerns raised over electric scooter use in Laois

Electric scooters have the Gardai ‘caught between the devil and the deep blue sea’, the top Garda in Laois has said. 

Chief Superintendent John Scanlan was asked about electric scooters at a recent Joint Policing Committee meeting. He used the opportunity to urge parents not to get electric scooters for children at Christmas. 

The discussion arose because a member of the public had written to the committee to explain their experience of using a scooter in Portlaoise. 

They said: “I go to school on the Borris Road and go on my electric scooter. Every morning and evening going to and from school, there are people shouting at me for being on the footpath and if I go on the road then. Cars are swerving on the other side and nearly causing an accident. Its traitorous going out every morning.” 

“One evening coming home I was on the footpath and I got off my scooter to go past a lady and she said that I shouldn’t be on the path and I had to go on the road. This is why we need cycle lanes. Most of the children live on the Mountmellick road and it's just not fair to us that we are the only big road in Portlaoise with no cycle lanes. You might say that you cannot close the road to fix it. That is just an excuse, you can close any road for tarmacadam but not for a good cause the paths on the Mountmellick Rd are wider than others. You could just half it or bring in the roads,” they wrote. 

Laois TD Brian Stanley said scooters were a real issue on footpaths. “There is people’s lives being put in danger…we can’t have a situation where they are using the footpath,” he said.

Deputy Stanley said he is getting a lot of complaints about scooters not just in Portlaoise but right across the constituency of Laois Offaly.

“It is a real problem…there is going to be more people seriously hurt,” Deputy Stanley told the meeting. 

Cllr John King asked about insurance and a scooter he saw that resembled “a capsule” with “a little white light on the front” using the road. “If that is involved in an incident, how is the third party looked after? he asked.  

Tom Jones said he raised the issue at a policing committee meeting a year ago. “They shouldn’t be on the footpath, end of,” he stated. 

Chief Supt Scanlan said gardai are waiting on legislation in relation to scooters. “We have been assured that the legislation is being fast tracked through the Dail. We await the legislation to give us the capacity to deal with this phenomenon,” he explained. 

Deputy Stanley said he would raise the matter in the Dail and he believed there was all-party support for the legislation. “There must be something you can do in the short term,” he said in relation to footpaths. Deputy Stanley said he had been in a few “hairy situations” involving scooters on the road and he was concerned for pedestrians and people pushing buggies. 

Chief Supt Scanlan explained that in order for a scooter to be deemed a mechanically propelled vehicle it has to meet certain criteria in terms of power. He said until legislation is in place all gardai can do is interact with the users they meet.

“When they are on the road they are a real danger to motorists and when they are on the footpath they are a real danger to pedestrians,” said Chief Supt Scanlan.  

“Come back to us with the legislation and we will implement it. In the meantime, we do recognise the hazards that are there and we are interfacing and engaging with people and sending our guards out to remind people that they are not the only  people on the footpath and equally they are not the  only people on the road.”

“We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. We have people ringing the garda station to complain that they are on the roads and then when they move to the footpath we have people ringing the garda station,” he said.

He expressed a belief that they are probably not appropriate vehicles to use at dusk or dawn or in badly lit areas. 

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said “you very often see an adult and child on them. I just can’t get my head around how any parent would put a child on, and you often see a child on in front. 

“If you hit a pothole or hit anything or lose control of this scooter the child, no helmet or nothing, so I hope that this legislation when it’s brought in will address that as well in terms of the age.” 

I would just urge parents to be very mindful. I have seen three young children on them at times, it’s crazy. I hope that the legislation takes that into consideration, there should be an age limit for them being able to drive those vehicles,” said Cllr Dwane Stanley. 

Deputy Stanley said the message should go out to users to be considerate of other people. “There is a huge issue with safety,” he said. 

Cllr Aisling Moran pointed out that bicycles aren’t allowed on footpaths. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to split the footpaths with half for use by bicycles and scooters and half for pedestrians, she said. 

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Council Chief Executive John Mulholland said it would require money and space. He described the Mountmellick Road as quite constrained and said from the Fairgreen into town “it would certainly involve the purchase of properties,” he explained.  

He said one of the primary reasons for starting the Triogue blueway was to remove cyclists from the roadways. Mr Mulholland said the council would also have to be conscious of homeowners in the areas. 

Chief Supt Scanlan said “there is a fear that these are going to be the item of choice for young people to purchase at Christmas. I would ask people to reflect on what they are giving children to use out on the streets…these are not toys. We would ask that Christmas presents be toys for children and not mechanically propelled vehicles, just within the margins of being slightly under the legislative radar at the moment.” 

He warned people considering purchasing scooters that they may find that such presents require licences and will therefore be age restricted, possibly in the early new year.