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Terrible incident. I wish the young person a quick recovery
The only sensible course of action is to ban e-scooters.
This will be impossible to enforce, and I'm surprised that you call for a ban. E-scooters will benefit the urban transport mix if they're integrated properly. The current hysteria and reporting of these rare incidents reminds me of calls to ban cycling when a really rare KSI occurs. As you know Oliver, it's car drivers that cause the vast majority of the harm
the main problem remains that people are mainly using them to avoid walking and cycling
Can you cite some evidence as to who uses them. The data from trials hasn't come in. The London e-scooter companies will be targeting drivers and trials here have yet to start.
Having used an e-scooter for developing the training programme it hasn't replaced cycling, apart from the occasional short trip where there's an issue with locking my cycle.(Anecdotally, many of the people who flag me down to ask about e-scooting are drivers, including a few who have rolled down their window when passing me to ask where they could get one )
It emerged last month that e-scooters have been used in hundreds of offences, including assaults, burglaries and anti-social behaviour.
As are cycles. How many mobile phones get nicked by young men on MTBs lifting them from tables outside restaurants/pubs. Witnessed a couple of these 'muggings' in Stoke Newington
This reporting is part of the hysteria around people's resistance to new things.
'50 year old man leaves car at home and rides an e-scooter to Tesco' is not as interesting a headline compared to 'Gangs on e-scooters terrorise pensioner'
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skydancer
The only sensible course of action is to ban e-scooters. A shocking incident here ...
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/boy-three-seriously-injured-feltham-scooter-hit-run-b933531.html
... but the main problem remains that people are mainly using them to avoid walking and cycling, with a small minority using them in place of the car for short trips. What I didn't know:
No link given, but there's this Independent story, which uses the same wording, so may be the one being referred to:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/escooters-thefts-assaults-police-uk-b1837716.html
Obviously, these are just absolute numbers not placed in context, e.g. what other regularly-occurring offences they may have replaced, how they compare to the overall picture, etc. I do find it interesting that they should crop up in police reports as significant factors, though.
Hope the little guy recovers fully.