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An e-scooter rider on an early morning joyride in the wrong direction along Auckland’s Southern Motorway fled the scene after he collided with a car.
Police said they received reports of a person travelling southbound in the northbound lane on State Highway 1 on an e-scooter.
Around 4.31am,soon after the initial reports, they were alerted to the scene of a crash involving a car and an e-scooter, near the motorway’s Port and Symonds St exit.
A spokesperson said emergency services were sent to the scene but the rider was nowhere to be found when they arrived.
He was found a short time later “not far from the scene”, police said.
High-speed traffic zoomed past the rider as he travelled along the furthest left lane, holding up the vehicles behind him on a Sunday afternoon.
It was understood the rider exited at Khyber Pass Rd and continued on to Newton Rd.
A spokeswoman for the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said at the time that riding an e-scooter with a power output of 300 watts or more on a motorway is unlawful if it isn’t registered or licenced.
Dashcam footage of a person riding an electric scooter on Auckland’s Southern Motorway on February 23, 2025.
E-scooters are confined to a top speed of about 35km/h at 300 watts.
“Motorways are high-speed environments and it’s important that all vehicles using them are legally and appropriately registered and licensed,” the spokeswoman said.
But the sighting of e-scooter enthusiasts attempting to traverse motorways, exclusively reserved for high-speed vehicles, isn’t a new phenomenon.
A man was also photographed crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge on his e-scooter in January 2023.
Then in July that year, another person was caught riding along the Northwestern Motorway on his scooter around 3am.
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