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Editorial
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Chances are, if you live anywhere in the Illawarra, you've seen someone on the streets riding an electric scooter.
There is certainly a growing number of these vehicles appearing in our neighbourhoods and not surprisingly there are plenty of young kids desperate to get their hands on one.
What isn't very well known is that in NSW it is actually illegal to ride one.
The laws haven't changed or been eased in regards to their use in NSW, but the market is simply choosing to ignore them.
Electric scooters look like a lot of fun and are cool .... until you see a little kid on one fly through your neighbourhood on the road without a helmet on.
You see that happen as a parent, as many of us clearly have, then the red flags go up.
Liberal councillor Cameron Walters has proposed Wollongong, given its landscape, would be ideally placed to take part in any NSW government trial of their legal use.
That would certainly come with regulation and enforcement.
What can't continue to happen is the current free-for-all we are seeing on our roads where they are being used by adults and kids alike, sometimes at breakneck speed and often without one ounce of safety gear in sight.
They are tragedies waiting to happen.
In the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported at least 41 Americans were killed and about 133,000 injured between 2017 and 2019 in incidents tied to e-scooters, e-bikes and hoverboards.
Most of the fatalities involved young males colliding with motor vehicles, presumably legal ones.
Many Australian states have now legalised their use, but they've come with restrictions such as limitations on the top speed of 25km/h as exists in Queensland.
That sounds like a pretty sensible measure as a starting point.
With Christmas looming large and electric scooters undoubtedly on the wish list of many of kids in the region, parents need to be totally educated and aware of what they are getting themselves or their kids into. Be educated first.
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