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Home / New Zealand

Lime e-scooter death: No evidence of mechanical failure, council says

NZ Herald
22 Sep, 2019 07:31 AM4 mins to read

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Auckland Council says there is nothing to suggest mechanical failure played any role in the death of a young man in a Lime e-scooter accident earlier this week.

The 23-year-old died after falling off a Lime electric scooter in downtown Auckland on Monday.

The death is believed to be the first ever from an electric-scooter in New Zealand.

The man was rushed to Auckland Hospital in a critical condition after an incident involving a Lime e-scooter on Westhaven Dr, St Mary's Bay.

Police confirmed the man's death on Friday night.

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"Our thoughts are with the man's family at this time."

The matter will be referred to the Coroner.

Auckland Council's director of regulatory services, Criag Hobbs said the council was saddened to learn of this week's death.

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"Our thoughts and condolences are with the young man's family and friends at this difficult time.

The council had been in contact with Lime since Monday evening when it first heard reports of an accident in the Westhaven area.

Lime has given a verbal update and provided a report.

"At this stage, Auckland Council has not been given any information which may suggest a mechanical failure of the e-scooter involved in this tragic incident.

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"All details relating to the cause of this incident are now with the Coroner and, as such, we are unable to provide any further information at this stage. We can however confirm that we have received no other reports of mechanical issues with e-scooters either prior to or after this incident."

Lime spokesperson Lauren Mentjox said the entire Lime team was deeply saddened by the news of the tragic death of one of their riders.

"Our thoughts and sympathies are with the rider's family and loved ones during this extremely difficult time.

"At Lime, we take rider safety very seriously and we are working closely with the authorities to support their investigation," Mentjox said.

His death comes after a study, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal last month, said e-scooter crash victims were arriving at hospitals with the sort of traumatic, multiple injuries usually only seen after car crashes.

ACC data shows that claims for e-scooter crashes are still dwarfed by scooter, motorbike and car crashes. But one thing which stands out in recent research on e-scooter crashes is the severity of the injuries.

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Researchers of the study found that the most common crash times were between 8am and 9am and after 6pm, and the most likely age-group to crash were 20-29 year-olds and riders older than 50.

Back in June, a 58-year-old man died riding a Lime but police said he suffered a "medical event" and the matter was referred to the Coroner.

This week a man appeared in court on a charge of careless use of a vehicle after a woman was struck by an e-scooter after she stepped off a bus on a central Auckland footpath.

He was allegedly riding the e-scooter on the footpath on Fanshawe St and struck Debra Christensen as she stepped off a bus.

This came after new safety procedures were put in place following the braking issues which caused 30 injuries and led to the company's e-scooters being pulled from Auckland and Dunedin streets for a week.

One being 27-year-old Liam Thompson, who broke his jaw after being thrown over the handlebar of his Lime scooter after its brakes locked up.

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At the time Lime said incidents around the braking issue, and accidents in general, needed to be seen in context.

"One of the unfortunate challenges is that any sort of transportation hardware has inherent risks - and we're going to face other challenges in the future. This is again true with any other form of transportation," Lime's global head of operations and strategy, Wayne Ting said.

Experts such as orthopaedic surgeon Paul Monk said there needed to be real discussion about helmets, speed limits, alcohol, age limits and how many people can ride them at a time.

He warned that the hazards of e-scooters should not be underestimated - either by the public or policy makers.

Hobbs said the council was currently in the final six weeks of phase two of its e-scooter trial, and would soon be evaluating what had been learned during the trial.

"Safety has always been paramount to us, and balancing this with significant demand for micro-mobility options is something that many cities around NZ and the world are grappling with.

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"The council and AT licence ride-share e-scooter companies to operate in our public spaces under the Trading in Public Places Bylaw however rules for using e-scooters are set by NZTA under road user rules. These cannot be regulated by local councils and include where you can ride e-scooters."

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