Department of Transport heads reveal e-rideables could become required to be registered like cars

E-rideable users could soon be forced to register their vehicle like a car, transport officials have revealed.

The revelation came on the final day of public hearings for a Parliamentary inquiry into e-rideables, which heard from Transport Department heads, local governments and a relative of a e-scooter crash victim.

On Monday morning a panel of Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure officials gave evidence to the committee and revealed they believed one way to better regulate e-rideables was introducing registration.

Department of Transport legislation services manager Charlie Marks said having registration would allow other things like insurance.

“To have Compulsory Third Party insurance you really need registration of some kind, you’ve got to be able to identify which devices are insured, that’s a given,” he said.

“They do flow from each other, we are certainly recommending the registration system and consequently insurance because these things are sharing the roads, they are road users.

“As much as we can make them safe, including the environment that they travel in, unfortunately, crashes happen.”

Another idea floated was introducing another class of e-rideables for those that have a top speed of around 25km/h to 45km/h

The current definition of an e-rideable says they have a speed limit of 25km/h on roads, have a maximum weight of 25kg and is no longer than 125cm.

Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure director general Peter Woronzow said a new classification for e-rideables which went over the existing speed limit would help to better regulate them.

“We’re looking at putting in place a new category between 25 and 45km/h to address things such as device use requirements, personal protection, network access and use rules, device ownership,” he said.

“(We’ve) talked about speed and the higher the speed these devices go the more risk to people.

“We’re proposing through the consultation process is to have a new category that deals with most devices in a better way.”

While spoken highly of by department officials, the idea did not prove so popular later in the day in a hearing of local government officials.

When asked about the proposal City of Vincent Mayor Alison Xamon said she thought 25km/h was fast enough.

“I would not be supportive of having that mid-tier e-rideable category, certainly when you’re talking about e-scooters, there’s no way to ride an e-scooter safety if it’s going to be over 30 kilometres,” she said.

Elected officials and executive officers from around seven local governments both metropolitan and regional joined to give evidence, they had a consensus it was private e-rideables that were causing the bulk of the issues.

According to City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin, hire e-scooters were often easy to get information out of and could be effectively regulated through geo-fencing.

“The accidents that we’re seeing that are causing the big issues is when gangs of youths are riding through traffic lights at night, when we see them tearing through parks on things that are effectively a motorbike, not an e-rideable scooter,” he said.

The committee was also given an emotional plea to strengthen education and regulations by the sister of an e-scooter crash victim.

Brooke Lane lost her brother Leigh Tagell in February when he crashed while riding an e-scooter in Kalgoorlie she believes he modified to increase its speed.

Ms Lane called for a better education campaign and tougher enforcement of rules.

She said she hoped the inquiry could make meaningful change.

“Speaking about his life and death is not easy, but I do so in hope that it will lead to meaningful change,” she said.

“Leigh’s life mattered, by strengthening laws, improving safety and raising awareness you could prevent other families from facing the same heart break.

“Please let something good come from our loss, please act so no other sister has to sit where I am today.”