Sir, – The continuing rise in serious injuries caused by electric scooters should now lead to one unavoidable conclusion: they should be banned from use on public roads and footpaths.
The problem is not simply rider behaviour but the design of the vehicles themselves. Their small wheels are easily destabilised by potholes, kerbs and uneven road surfaces.
Because riders stand upright with a high centre of gravity, a sudden stop, often caused by a small road or path defect, throws them forwards with the head taking the full force of the impact. This explains why traumatic brain injuries and skull fractures occur so frequently after scooter crashes.
What is particularly alarming is the growing number of children and young adults presenting to Irish emergency departments with severe scooter-related head injuries.
RM Block
No convenience offered by these devices can justify the lifelong consequences of a preventable brain injury.
No half measures are workable. Children and adults are suffering lifelong and life-changing injuries; the Government should introduce a nationwide ban on all electric scooters. – Yours, etc,
J BERNARD WALSH,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Proposals from various organs of the State for an outright ban on e-scooters are a particularly boneheaded response to regulatory failure.
The logic appears to be this: we have failed to enforce the laws already in place, failed to introduce sensible additional regulation and failed to resource and manage An Garda Síochána adequately. Therefore, rather than address any of those failures, we should simply ban e-scooters. Have the gardaí seriously attempted to enforce the existing laws? Has the Government properly resourced them to do so, or held anyone accountable for persistent non-enforcement?
Apparently not. By this reasoning, cars should also be banned because some motorists behave recklessly and break the law.
A competent State regulates and enforces. An incompetent one bans. – Yours, etc,
Prof BRIAN M LUCEY,
Sallins,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – Prohibition rarely works as intended.
Both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the Garda Commissioner, Justin Kelly, seem to be now favouring an “outright” ban of e-scooters as the number of young people presenting with serious brain injuries to emergency departments soars.
Surely the immediate answer must be the compulsory wearing of protective helmets by all users of these road scooters. Failure to do so would risk a suggested on-the-spot €250 fine.
Once the parents or guardians of under 18s start receiving letters that their son or daughter was caught not wearing a helmet and are now liable for a large monetary fine, behaviour patterns will quickly change.
In the long term, measures to identify individual users of e-scooters such as licensing and insurance can be looked at. But the immediate action must be to prevent serious head injuries. Compulsory wearing of protective headgear should be introduced forthwith. – Yours, etc,
TOM MCELLIGOTT,
Listowel,
Co Kerry.
