By Louise Ternouth of RNZ
An Auckland woman says her life has been “changed forever” after a walk to work ended with her being hit by an e-scooter.
Michelle Mann was hit by the scooter in 2018 and
Woman left with brain injury after being hit by e-scooter calls for more accountability
RNZ
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Seven years ago, she was walking to work from the ferry terminal on downtown Auckland’s Quay St when she was struck by an e-scooter.
“This moment in time changed everything about my life, everything. I don’t have that job that I used to go to, I don’t work in the city, I don’t have a job, I can’t drive to the city.
“I can’t do normal life anymore and this spot represents where that all changed.”
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Mann suffered a severe brain injury, a tear and impingements – which is pressure on a nerve or tendon – in her shoulder and hip and issues with the disc on both sides of her jaw.
She has had six surgeries to date, is still recovering and teared up while telling RNZ’s Checkpoint about her recovery.
“Sorry, I’m having a moment; it’s just a lot. It’s a lot.”
She is not alone. An Auckland City Hospital Emergency Department report on e-scooter injuries in 2019 shows over 17% of patients suffered from impact injuries to their heads.
Over 4% of patients were critical, suffering a significant head injury.
All up, Mann said her case with ACC had cost $600,000.
The total cost for the number of e-scooter-related ACC claims from January 1, 2019 to the end of 2024 is $50m.
In Auckland, the total sum paid by e-scooter providers to Auckland Council from 2019 to 2024 was $1.8m.
Wellington Council was unable to provide the total sum to RNZ.
Mann questioned whether that revenue was worth the cost to the taxpayer through ACC.
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“All the people putting into ACC are just picking up the tab.”
She would like to see e-scooter companies take on some of the financial responsibility with an insurance tariff.
That is something Sheffield Fox group chief executive Peter Adams hopes to introduce.
Sheffield Fox is a group of insurance engineers that is looking at introducing an additional payment for riders, which would go into an insurance fund.
For the last few years, Sheffield Fox has researched a clip-on device for e-scooters.
“In a nutshell, we think it’s a very small device that can be bolted on and it probably talks to the persons app on their smartphone and it just records information and sends it.”
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Adams said the device would be a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), sensors and a camera.
The device could track the location of the scooter, warn the rider about potential collisions and even connect to the brakes.
“Personal responsibility comes into it,” Adams said. “You damage somebody or something, then we think you’re responsible.”
Currently e-scooter riders are not allowed to ride in cycle lanes, but they could use shared paths on the road and the footpath.
That is despite NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s latest safety review on e-scooters, which acknowledged virtually all crashes with pedestrians happened on footpaths.
Some councils, including Auckland and Wellington, have curfew zones and low-speed and no-ride zones to try to minimise accidents.
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Mann has written to the Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, asking for mandatory training for all e-scooter users, an insurance tariff and for e-scooters to be able to use cycle lanes.
In a letter RNZ has seen, the minister thanked her for those suggestions and said he would be considering progressing changes for the regulation of e-scooters in the future.
Mann wanted to see them sooner rather than later.
“Thanks for your response, but actually what are you going to do about it?
“What actions are you going to take? What people are you going to bring round the table to make effective and positive change happen that makes the pavements safe for everybody?”
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– RNZ
