Paramedics called out to 328 e-scooter crashes through first five months as WA on track to set unwanted record

Paramedics have responded to more than 328 serious e-scooter crashes since the start of this year with alarming figures revealing that WA is on track for the highest number of crashes in history. Statistics exclusively obtained by The West Australian show St John WA Paramedics were called to more than 60 e-scooter crashes each month between January until the end of May — already more than half the total of 539 incidents recorded in 2024. And 73 per cent (240) of this year’s incidents were listed as priority-one jobs — the most serious classification for a triple-0 call received by St John — likely meaning riders or pillion passengers suffered serious or life-threatening injuries. In 2023, paramedics responded to 453 cases, while there were 276 call-outs in 2022 and just 120 in 2021. The numbers can be revealed days after a 51-year-old pedestrian died in hospital after being struck by a hire e-scooter in the Perth CBD. The backpacker accused of striking the father was allegedly travelling up to 25km/h on a footpath when the collision occurred. Under WA law, e-scooter riders can only travel at 10km/h on pedestrian paths. When travelling on a shared path, they can travel at 25km/h — which is the maximum speed set on the hire scooters. Limitations in geolocation technologies installed on some hire e-scooters in Perth meant companies were unable to differentiate whether a rider was on a shared path or footpath, meaning the speed of riders was unable to be automatically reduced. But in certain “slow zones” the rental scooters can be slowed to a set limit. E-scooters — which are considered e-rideables — are subject to the same mobile phone, drink and drug-driving laws as car drivers. Neuron mobility scooters — one of two scooter brands pulled from the City of Perth streets — had a no-ride zone in Northbridge between 10pm and 4am on Friday and Saturday nights. They also have an in-built cognitive reaction test in the hopes of weeding out intoxicated riders which activates during the same hours. Both Neuron and Beam had a maximum of 250 branded e-scooters each before they were removed following the City of Perth’s e-scooter scheme suspension on Thursday. Only one person is allowed to ride an e-scooter at a time and it is illegal to ride one on a road with a speed limit above 50km/h.