E-scooters have become increasingly popular during the past ten years. They are now a familiar sight on roads, pavements, in pedestrianised shopping areas and on public footpaths. Many people who use electric scooters mistakenly believe that they can legally be used on public roads, pavements, footpaths and other public spaces including car parks and shopping centres. E-scooters provide a convenient form of low carbon transport and in congested urban areas they can provide shorter journey times than cars or buses and are relatively cheap to power and maintain. The purchase price of electric scooters is also very modest in comparison with cars and motorcycles, therefore they do provide an opportunity for people on very modest incomes to have access to powered transportation. The widespread use of E-scooters particularly in urban areas does help to reduce pollution and congestion and their widespread use would help the UK to achieve its long term goal of achieving carbon neutrality.
It is legal to own an electric scooter and to use one on private property with the owner’s consent where necessary. There are no requirements to take a driving test when purchasing an e-scooter. E-scooters are however involved in an increasing number of road traffic accidents, some of which result in serious life changing injuries and unfortunately there has been an increasing number of fatal accidents during the last few years.
Police UK have given advice on using electric scooters which I will summarise as follows. E-Scooters are classified as powered transporters, as a result it is illegal to use them on public pavements under Section 72 of the Highways Act 1835. Since e-scooters are classified as powered transporters they are also classed as motor vehicles under the Road Traffic Act 1988 which means that rules relating to motor vehicles also apply to e-scooter riders including the need to have a licence, insurance and tax. The minimum insurance requirement for a motor vehicle to be ridden on a public road is third party insurance cover which would cover a compensation claim made by a person who is injured by an e-scooter rider. It is currently impossible to obtain minimum third party insurance cover for privately owned e-scooters which means that it is illegal to use them on public roads or in public places. If an e-scooter is used in a public place, the police can seize the e-scooter under Section 165 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 because the e-scooter has no minimum third party motor insurance cover. If an e-scooter rider caused serious harm to another person ie significant injury whilst riding an e-scooter the incident would be investigated in the same way as if the rider had been riding a motorcycle or driving a car.
Police UK have advised that the following penalties could apply when using an e-scooter.
- A fine of £300 and 6 penalty points could be applied to your licence if you have no insurance.
- A fine of £100 and between 3 and 6 penalty points could be applied if riding an e-scooter without the correct licence.
- If you’re caught riding an e-scooter on a pavement, then a fixed penalty notice could be issued and a possible fine of £50.
- If you are caught using a mobile phone or other handheld device whilst riding the e-scooter, a fine of £200 plus fixed penalty points could be applied to the licence.
- If you’re caught riding through a red set of traffic lights, a fixed penalty notice would apply together with a £100 fine and possible penalty points.
- If a rider of an e-scooter is caught riding the scooter under the influence of drugs or alcohol, then the rider will be treated in the same way as the rider of a motorcycle or a car driver and would have to pay a fine, be banned from driving and be subject to a possible custodial sentence.
- If you are caught riding an e-scooter in a public place in an anti-social manner, you could also be at risk of the e-scooter being seized under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act.
The police recommend that when riding an e-scooter, you should wear safety protection such as a helmet and keep within the speed limit, although there is no legal requirement to wear a cycle helmet or crash helmet.
It is possible to ride an e-scooter legally on public roads if the e-scooter has been hired under a government approved rental scheme which provides for compulsory insurance for all riders subject to the rider being within the minimum age limits and having a full driving licence. The e-scooters provided under the rental scheme are limited to 15.5 miles per hour whereas many privately owned e-scooters are capable of much higher speeds.
What happens if you are riding an e-scooter and you are involved in an accident caused by another driver? The position here is that you will be able to claim compensation against the other driver’s insurer in the same way as if you were riding a bicycle or a motorcycle. The other driver will have an equal responsibility of care towards the rider of an e-scooter as to any other road users such as a motorcyclist or cyclist. E-scooter riders often sustain serious injuries in road traffic accidents because they are often not wearing crash helmets, cycle helmets or protective clothing. Motorcyclists, for example, have to wear crash helmets which offer a much better degree of crash protection than cycle helmets and will often wear protective clothing such as leather jackets and trousers and heavy duty gloves and boots. It is also important to note that most e-scooters are not fitted with lights which makes them particularly dangerous to use at night.
If a rider of an e-scooter is involved in an accident, the other party’s insurers may well raise the issue of contributory negligence, for example, if an e-scooter was used on a public road when it was illegal to do so or the rider of the e-scooter wasn’t wearing a crash helmet and the rider of the e-scooter was riding at night without displaying front and rear lights. It is important to note that the use of a cycle helmet would not provide adequate protection for the rider of an e-scooter. The government approved rental schemes allow e-scooters to have a maximum speed of 15.5 mph, privately purchased e-scooters often have top speeds much higher than that. Cycle helmets are designed to provide crash protection at speeds of up to only 12.1 mph which means that a cycle helmet would offer inadequate protection in many accidents and I would strongly recommend anyone using an e-scooter on a public road under a government approved scheme, to wear a motorcycle crash helmet. A deduction for contributory negligence for failing to wear a crash helmet would, in my view, be made if the crash helmet would have significantly reduced the extent of the injuries sustained or have prevented an injury, for example, in the case of a serious brain injury although if the rider of the e-scooter sustained an injury that would not have been affected by the helmet, for example, a fractured ankle, then no deduction for contributory negligence would apply.
In summary, if a rider of an e-scooter is injured by another road user, ie a motorcyclist, a car driver, a bus driver or a van driver, the e-scooter rider can still obtain compensation even though it is illegal to use an e-scooter on a public road unless the scooter is being used through an officially approved rental scheme. A deduction for contributory negligence could however apply where an e-scooter rider sustained, for example, a significant head injury and wasn’t wearing a motorcycle crash helmet, or when the accident happened at night and the e-scooter rider was not displaying lights and in any event, a deduction for contributory negligence could apply because the e-scooter rider was using the e-scooter on a public road. I am sure there will be numerous case authorities during the course of the next ten years which will provide clarification of the law relating to contributory negligence and accidents involving e-scooters.
If an e-scooter is used on private land, then no argument can arise in relation to illegality where the rider of the scooter owns the land or has permission of the owner to use the land. The scooter rider could still cause an accident and a person injured by a scooter being used on private land, could make a claim against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau where the rider of the scooter had no insurance. Personal injury accident insurance cover is not generally available for electric scooters and therefore a person injured by a scooter on private land would however be able to make a claim against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau under the Untraced Drivers Scheme as an electric scooter is classified as a motor vehicle. In the case of Vnuk v Zavarovalnica Trigalav c-162/13 a person injured on private land by the use of a motor vehicle could claim compensation under a state scheme to compensate persons who had sustained injuries as a result of the use of an uninsured vehicle. Although the UK government indicated in 2022 that it intended to disapply the decision of Vnuk in future, it is still good law in that a claimant injured by an accident involving an e-scooter used on private land would still be able to claim compensation from the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. The effect of the MIB scheme is that the Motor Insurers’ Bureau would pay the injured person compensation for personal injuries and other losses, for example, loss of earnings, medical expenses together with a fixed contribution towards the injured person’s costs and then seek to recover reimbursement from the uninsured rider of the e-scooter.
Where a person is injured by an e-scooter, for example, someone walking along a pavement who is knocked to the ground by the rider of the scooter, who rides off without stopping, the injured claimant can make a claim against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau under the Untraced Drivers Scheme. Where the rider of the scooter can be identified, for example, where the rider is identified by the police or provided ID details following the accident, a claim can be made through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau Traced Drivers Scheme. The advantage of the Traced Drivers Scheme is that it enables the claimant to bring a claim against a named individual which enables proceedings to be issued against that person with the MIB joined as a second defendant so that the court can determine what the appropriate level of compensation should be if it is not able to reach an acceptable agreement with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. Where a claim is brought under the Untraced Drivers Scheme then the Motor Insurers’ Bureau will decide what level of compensation will be paid and the only redress would then be to appeal that decision to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau if the award was considered to be inadequate. In my experience, it is clearly preferable for a claim to be made under the Traced Drivers Scheme where possible.
In summary, riders of e-scooters who are injured on public roads can claim compensation for personal injuries and other losses such as loss of earnings, medical and other expenses but compensation awards could be subject to a deduction for contributory negligence. Where the rider of an e-scooter causes injuries to another person, a claim can be made against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau where the rider of the e-scooter is untraced or where the rider of the e-scooter is identified but uninsured. There will be a small number of cases where the rider of the e-scooter is covered by insurance under government approved hire schemes.
