LAST UPDATE | 22 hrs ago

THE DUBLIN COMMUTER Coalition has said that upping the age limit on the e-scooter ban from 16 to 18 will push more people into cars and result in more congestion.

It also hit out at the “hypocrisy” in banning 16 and 17-year-olds from e-scooters when this age cohort can “use two-ton tractors”.

The coalition is an advocacy group that aims to improve the provision of sustainable mobility in the Greater Dublin Area.

Its chair, Jason Cullen, told The Journal that raising the ban from 16 to 18 “doesn’t address the root cause of the problem, which is that children have been ending up in Temple Street with life-changing injuries”.

A recent report by Children’s Health Ireland revealed there has been a 50% annual increase in the number of children and young people being admitted to hospital with traumatic brain injuries because of e-scooter crashes.

Cullen noted that children under 16 “routinely” ride e-scooters despite recent regulations banning this and that the government should instead allocate the “required resources” to An Garda Síochána’s Road Policing Unit to enforce the existing rules.

He added that a “hypocrisy has been created” which allows “16 and 17-year-olds to use two-ton tractors with no training whatsoever” and also allows them to use mopeds.

“The government has effectively made it so that a 17-year-old who has got a licence for a moped, or work on their parents’ farm driving a tractor, can not legally ride an e-scooter at 15 kilometres an hour wearing a helmet and a high-vis jacket in a segregated cycle lane.

“It is such unbelievable hypocrisy that this government literally cannot get a decision correct when it comes to not only child safety, but any rules of the road and any road safety rules whatsoever.”

‘Licensing and registration’

Cullen added that the changes could “equate to an effective ban” and pointed to legislation which will introduce licensing and registration, as well as the mandatory use of helmets and high-vis.

I don’t know anyone who’s going to do 12 mandatory lessons in their local driving testing centre to get on an e-scooter?

Cullen also questioned how a registration system would work, as e-scooters do not have markers such as a Vehicle Identification Number.

Cullen meanwhile said that the licensing requirement will push more people into cars and queried what licence will be needed for an e-scooter.

“There are thousands of people using e-scooters safely in Ireland on a daily basis, they’ve spent up to €600 on an e-scooter, and soon they might be told they’re no longer allowed to use it because they don’t have a car driving licence,” said Cullen.

“And if you make people get a car driving licence, they’ll just go and get a car.

“And that’s assuming it is a car driving licence you will need, and not a moped licence, which is separate to a car driver’s license.

“I would expect that it would be a two-wheel licence rather than a four-wheel licence, but we have to see what that actually looks like.”

‘Barriers’ to sustainable travel

Cullen added that “every decision this government makes is always towards the car, always towards more roads, more congestion, and never towards sustainable travel”.

And while he said the coalition is always advocating the use of safety equipment, the mandatory use of helmets and high-vis “puts a barrier in the way of people using these forms of transport”.

“A lot of local councils have made a huge effort in creating segregated, safe cycle infrastructure.

Adults using their bikes and e-scooters at legal and responsible speeds should not require helmets to use them.

“It is only when you are forced to interact with much faster-moving vehicles, such as cars, that you create a situation where helmets are required.”

Cullen added that cyclist and e-scooters “would not be in a position where helmets should be mandated” if government acted on implementing 30km/h speed limits in built-up and urban areas by 2027.

“But government have made their announcements and effectively pushed people back into congestion and away from active travel and healthy choices and sustainable choices.”

Political reaction

The reaction to the ban politically has been mixed.

Fine Gael’s Michael Murphy, chair of the Oireachtas Transport Committee, described it as a “significant and necessary step forward” but added that an “outright ban must remain firmly on the table”.

Fianna Fáil TD and the party’s spokesperson on transport Shane Moynihan also described the announcement as a “major step forward”.

Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy meanwhile said that “none of the changes announced will make any difference unless there is a robust and resourced policing approach”.

Meanwhile, Labour and the Green Party broadly welcomed the move, and also welcomed the government’s retreat from an outright ban.

However, People Before Profit said the ban on under 18s is “not the right answer”.

Paul Murphy said e-scooters are a “popular, affordable and environmentally sustainable form of transport” and instead called for “enforcement of the ban on sales to under 16s and stronger controls on maximum design speeds”.