Melbourne votes to ban electric scooters
2024-08-15
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The ban on shared electric scooters in Melbourne, Australia's largest city, has sparked controversy. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on August 14 that the Melbourne City Council voted 6:4 to terminate the contracts with two local shared electric scooter companies six months ahead of schedule. According to the contracts between the Melbourne City Government and the shared electric scooter companies, once the council notifies the termination of the agreement, each company has only 30 days to end operations.The Victorian Transport Department just announced last month that electric scooters were permanently legalized in the state. Only three weeks later, Melbourne Mayor Rees "sentenced death" to shared electric scooters. Victorian Premier Allen called on the Melbourne City Council to reconsider its decision, saying that the latter had hastily abandoned electric scooters. He believes that electric scooters solve the "last mile" of travel in the public transportation network and "hope that the city of Melbourne can change its mind."The main reason why the city council decided to cancel shared electric scooters is to eliminate safety hazards. According to statistics, between December 1, 2021 and July 31, 2024, the Victorian police issued a total of 1,964 electric scooter violations. During the same period, there were 860 collisions involving electric scooters, with a total of 7 deaths. Three of the fatal cases occurred since April this year. The Royal Melbourne Hospital sees 30 to 40 patients injured in electric scooter-related incidents every month. (Da Qiao)▲
