E-scooters and policing

Emelia Bezant-Gahan considers the increasing prevalence of E-scooters and their potential impacts on policing.

There are more than one million electric scooters (“e-scooters”) in use in the UK today. They are classed as “powered transporters”, a broad category of vehicle including any number of personal transport devices powered by a motor, and also classed as motor vehicles, under the definitions set out in the Road Traffic Act 1998 (“RTA 1998”). This means that the rules that apply to cars, large goods vehicles and motorcycles – including the requirement to possess a licence, insurance and tax – also apply to e-scooters.

E-scooters do have benefits. They are a brilliant way of furthering the UK’s climate change goals to reduce vehicle emissions, encouraging individuals to use an alternate mode of transport rather than driving short distances in city centres and therefore reducing emissions and easing congestion in urban areas.

E-scooters had their mainstream peak around the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. During the social distancing era they were seen as a favourable option because it was a solitary method of transport, as opposed to sitting closely together on buses, trains, trams or the tube.

Despite these benefits, e-scooters remain controversial. According to West Midlands Police, e-scooters were cited in 652 crime logs and 226 complaints of anti-social behaviour in 2021 and their popularity only seems to be growing.

Trial schemes

In July 2020, the Department for Transport (DfT) expedited proposed regulations to allow rental electric scooters to be used in several regions across England (32 at present) as part of a national consultation process, mainly to increase sustainable public transport as e-scooters use electric batteries instead of fuel.

The trials were to conclude in November 2021 but have been extended to May 2024. Whilst the DfT gathers data from trial schemes and completes its consultation process we will not have a clear regulatory regime or safety standards.

Considering the trial scheme, hiring an e-scooter might be a legal way to ride one in a public place but legally you must still be at least 18 years old and hold the correct driving licence and an account with the rental company. Only then can hired e-scooters be used in the public road or the cycle lane. Under the scheme, e-scooters can only be hired from authorised companies. Hirers are recommended to wear a helmet, although this is not a legal requirement. The e-scooters are insured against third party liability, and are limited to 15.5 mph.

The duty of care owed to other road users by e-scooter riders remains the same as any other vehicle and individuals riding e-scooters, even lawfully, can be investigated by traffic officers in the same way they would be if they caused an accident while driving a car or motorcycle.

Legality, powers and penalties

Because you cannot currently obtain insurance for privately owned e-scooters, it is illegal under the RTA 1998 to ride them in public spaces. The case of DPP v Saddington (2002) concerned a “go-ped” scooter with an internal combustion engine. The Court found that this was a motor vehicle for the purposes of the statutory framework and Mr Saddington was required to have a driving licence and third-party insurance when using it on a public road. Building on this was the case of Winter v DPP (2002). Mr Winter challenged a conviction for driving a “city bug” electric scooter without insurance. He argued that the requirements of insurance should not apply. The Court disagreed and upheld the conviction.

Police officers can seize illegally ridden e-scooters under s165 of the RTA 1998 for no insurance. However, private e-scooters can be ridden on private land with the landowner’s permission. This is the only legal basis on which they can be used.

• If a rider of a private e-scooter does not have the correct licence or rides without insurance, they may face a £100 fine and six penalty points for the former and £300 fine and six points on their driving licence for the latter;

• Riding an e-scooter on the pavement will attract a fixed penalty notice and a £50 fine;

• Using a mobile phone or other handheld device whilst riding an e-scooter will attract £200 fine and six penalty points;

• Riding an e-scooter through a red light will attract a fixed penalty notice £100 and potential points;

• Finally, if you’re caught driving under the influence the same penalties will apply as driving a car under the influence i.e. potential imprisonment.

S59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 “PRA 2002” provides broader grounds and powers for officers to seize e-scooters. It states that a constable in uniform who has reasonable grounds to believe the e-scooter is being used in a manner which contravenes a provision of the RTA 1998 or is causing distress, alarm or annoyance to the public will be able to seize the vehicle and order the rider to stop (s59 (3)(a-b)). In addition, under s59 (3)(d) the officer will have the power to use reasonable force in the exercise of the above powers.

In addition, s59 (4) of the PRA 2002 states as follows:

(4)A constable shall not seize a motor vehicle in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by this section unless—

(a)he has warned the person appearing to him to be the person whose use falls within subsection (1) that he will seize it, if that use continues or is repeated; and

(b)it appears to him that the use has continued or been repeated after the warning.

The above will apply unless the provisions of s59 (5) are met which states that exceptions to the above will be:

• it is impracticable for the officer to give the warning;
• or the constable has already on that occasion given a warning under the subsection in respect of any use of that vehicle;
• or the constable has grounds for believing that a warning has been given on that occasion by someone else;
• or the individual riding the e-scooter has been given a warning on a previous occasion in the previous 12 months.

Finally, if there are two people on an e-scooter this would be a breach of the rules of hire (if it is a hired scooter) and would attract the same criminal sanctions as driving a car in a careless/dangerous fashion.

Statistics and future

The increasing use of e-scooters may reflect public opinion and government policy around reducing vehicle emissions. However, whilst e-scooters may be better for the environment, there has been an undeniable escalation of reported safety concerns relating to their use. In the year ending June 2021, the DfT registered 882 accidents involving e-scooters of these 173 were single vehicle accidents. There were 931 casualties in accidents involving e-scooters and of these 732 were the riders. Of the 931 casualties 3 people died (all the e-scooter riders). This may not be the stark reality as e-scooter incidents are not recorded consistently.

The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) provides statistics (accurate up to early October 2022) that since 2019 28 people have died in incidents involving e-scooters. Only two of those were pedestrians or other road users, the other fatalities were the riders.

A PACTS report from March 2022 entitled ‘The Safety of Private E-Scooters in the UK’ acknowledges the growing use of e-scooters and concludes that the existing situation is unsatisfactory. PACTS recommended that the DfT takes immediate action to address dangerous and illegal private e-scooter use, undertakes a public consultation on the future of e-scooters, and commissions further research into their impact. E-scooter use will continue to grow, and their presence on UK roads will have to be accommodated for. We are yet to find out how tightly regulated their use will be.

Impact on policing

The increasing use of e-scooters could impact policing in various ways. Illegal use appears to be a growing issue, punishable by FPN and a fine. If the individual refuses to provide their details to a police officer for the purposes of issuing this FPN they may have to make an arrest under s24 of PACE. This could lead to a drain on police time and resources. In addition, the resources required to police an all-new category of vehicle, the legality of which is unclear to people, could impact an already strained budget.

The increased likelihood of RTAs could also result in an increased need of police traffic officer resources. As shown in the statistics above, e-scooter riders are vulnerable to serious injury or death. In all the fatalities listed above the e-scooter riders were involved, and 85% of the serious injuries were suffered by the riders.

There is also a rising practice of using e-scooters in crimes such as thefts and drug dealing. E-scooters present a less traceable way to travel. Whilst rental schemes include “ID checks”, these can be bypassed and false IDs can be used for criminal activities.

There are cases of e-scooters being hired by inebriated people looking for an alternative to getting home on public transport, perhaps seeing riding an e-scooter under the influence as less culturally taboo or a legal alternative to drunk driving. This is not just dangerous for the rider, as we have seen in the statistics, but for other road users or pedestrians. Hopefully, riding an e-scooter under the influence will soon be considered as outrageous as drunk driving.

Many of the issues with e-scooters stem from a lack of education on their use and the legislation they are subject to. Reported by the BBC, Supt Pete Steenhuis of Kent Police urged riders to "familiarise" themselves with the law and considers that giving advice on the street and in schools is the best solution. Should an officer come across an e-scooter being used incorrectly, Supt Pete Steenhuis believes they should first seek to educate the rider and encourage them to adhere to the legislation. It is hoped that this approach, in accordance with the provisions under the PRA 2022 could lead to more awareness of the rules and a reduction in the police resource expended in this area.

It is unclear to member of the public if they are subject to the same laws when riding an e-scooter and driving a car and only time will tell how police forces across the country will deliver such training. According to Cambridgeshire Police figures from May 2022, as reported in the ELY standard, e-scooter-related crime dropped by 31% between January and March 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. This followed a special operation “operation scoot” to tackle e-scooter illegal use, anti-social behaviour and theft, focusing on education and not enforcement. Cambridge is one of the areas carrying out the trials on rental e-scooters and a spokesperson for the force said that officers will continue to carry out educational work in schools and retail outlets to tackle illegal use and will only consider enforcement where there is a risk to public safety. This approach has been successful for Cambridgeshire and may be replicated in other forces in the country. The impact of PACTS’ findings on e-scooter use are still to be seen but it is clear that e-scooters are here to stay - at least for the near future.

Emelia Bezant-Gahan is a solicitor from the Public Sector Team at Plexus Law.