Calls for government to educate on safe riding behaviour after recent deaths

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A number of recent e-bike related deaths have renewed calls for the federal and state and territory governments to take action to ensure safety for riders and others.

Transcript

00:00So there's clearly a lot of advantages to an e-bike and that's one of the reasons why many

00:06people have adopted them. The reason why we've got a challenge at the moment is that there is

00:11a section of the market that's happy to sell non-compliant e-bikes. They're being ridden

00:17by primarily young male riders, but also we've got a problem with the delivery e-bikes. So

00:24they're non-compliant and the private ones in particular have been responsible for deaths

00:29in many states around Australia. Concerns with some of those e-bikes that are being used by

00:36private individuals, is it the size of them? Primarily it comes down to the power of the

00:45motor. They're capable of very high speed and they also have a throttle. To be compliant in Australia

00:53it has to be less than 250 watts and there shouldn't be a throttle to allow you to operate it like a

00:59motorcycle. The problem is that many are affect unregistered motorcycles.

01:07And what about rideshare e-bikes and delivery e-bikes?

01:14The rideshare ones like we've got in many capital cities are operating compliant e-bikes. So there's

01:21not a problem with the bike itself. When we turn to delivery e-bikes, recent work that we did for the

01:28Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce highlighted that a large percentage of delivery e-bikes

01:35operating in central Melbourne were non-compliant.

01:40Okay. So what would you like to see? And we're also seeing some images of here. One of the issues

01:45in Sydney has been that it's just a big mess around parts of Sydney now with these rideshare e-bikes just

01:52being left everywhere. So what should change in terms of regulation? First with the bigger e-bikes

02:01that are mainly being imported, are they, and used by private individuals?

02:07Correct. I think the responsible organisation there is clearly the federal government.

02:12We need a return to the conditions prior to 2021, where anyone importing a vehicle had to confirm

02:20that it was compliant. We've got to close the door so we don't get more non-compliant bikes coming in.

02:30We've then got a separate challenge to address the problem with the vehicles that are here,

02:35and that's going to involve multiple players. Clearly the police have a role to play with

02:41enforcement, but the community's got a role to play too in state government. State governments should

02:47be getting the message out about what is a compliant vehicle, and it should be messaging to young kids

02:55and also parents. Coming into Christmas, parents should be very much aware of what makes a compliant

03:03e-bike so that we reduce the risks of kids being out on roads or bike paths on non-compliant e-bikes,

03:10which are effectively motorcycles. And just remind us once again, what is compliant?

03:17So the motor should be less than 250 watts, which would usually be part of the documentation,

03:23and there should be no throttle that allows you to operate it at higher speed. And importantly,

03:29the motor should cut out once you reach 25 kilometres per hour. And should there be a speed

03:36limit on bikes? That's a very good question. Queensland has taken a slightly different approach

03:44where they specify speed limits for facilities, and there's a lot to merit that, because if somebody's

03:50walking near a path, if they get hit by a conventional bike going at high speed, they're

03:56going to be injured. So I certainly think there is merits in looking at speed limits for these

04:01vehicles in the same way that we have speed limits for cars on roads, and we vary those speed limits

04:07according to the conditions. And what about in terms of looking at regulation now for the

04:13e-bike hires, or share e-bikes, and delivery riders?

04:18So for the delivery riders, that should be an easier problem to address, quite frankly.

04:24They're mainly in the capital cities, they're mainly in the city, and most of those vehicles

04:30are sold or leased by a limited number of retailers. So enforcement should be able to target those

04:37very easily. When we go back to the share bikes, as I said before, the vehicle is compliant,

04:44we've got a challenge with user behaviour. And I think that the operators have got scope to step up

04:50more strongly and ensure that users leave the vehicle in a safe location, or more quickly respond

04:59if the vehicles have fallen down and are creating an obstruction.

05:03And what about the frequency with which they're being ridden on footpaths and without helmets?

05:13So this is a user behaviour issue. In some states, it is legal to ride on a footpath. So it's

05:20state specific. The helmet issue is one that riders need to be aware of, that to be legally riding

05:29a bike, you need to have a helmet. And that means if the shared bike that they're about to rent

05:34doesn't have a helmet connected to it, they should go to another bike.

05:40Yeah. So just wrapping up then, overall, do you think they inevitably are going to be incorporated

05:47into our transport avenues somehow? Because used correctly, they can be good.

05:52But we do need a fresh approach to regulating them.

05:59We certainly do. The problem's been magnified by lack of action of government, and they need

06:05to step up. And the message that I would be giving to parents coming into Christmas, would

06:10you be comfortable with your child going out without a licence and riding in an unregistered

06:16motor vehicle? If you'd answer no to that, then you should be very cautious about what sort

06:21of e-bike. You get your child for Christmas.

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