Injury Prevention Week

All the Personal Injury Team at Battens are proud to be members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), the leading not-for-profit organisation representing injured people and campaigning for the rights of injured people and their families.

During Injury Prevention Week APIL will be highlighting the campaign that they are running in relation to the topic of e-scooters. They aim to highlight the legislative and practical measures which would help to protect people from injury, as the use of such scooters becomes more popular and widespread.

E-scooters are a common sight parked in designated bays around towns and cities across the South West. The scooters are part of a specific rental scheme which provides insurance for the user should anything unexpected happen during their period of use.

To use an e-scooter under the current rental scheme you must: -

• Be over 18 years old
• Have a full or provisional driving licence
• Only use the scooter on the road (and not on the pavement)

E-scooters under the rental scheme are limited to 15.5mph.

Use of a helmet is currently a recommendation rather than a legal requirement.

At the present time, only scooters ridden as part of this scheme are legal, but the Government haa indicated that it is their intention to also legalise the use of privately owned e-scooters on public roads, which is expected to lead to a significant increase in the use of such vehicles.

Battens supports APIL’s campaign to reduce the risks associated by e-scooters and to make it a requirement that all such scooters (whether provided under a rental scheme or privately owned) are insured so that when the worst happens, those who are injured have access to compensation.

In addition, Battens would like to highlight how important the use of helmets can be to lessen or, in some cases, prevent head injury. APIL are campaigning for the use of helmets to be made compulsory, something which Battens would strongly support.

Kate Golding, Head of the Personal Injury and Industrial Disease department at Battens, who has historically dealt with this issue with regard to accidents involving bicycles, said “I have learnt, through my work with injured clients, how wearing a helmet can significantly reduce the risk of serious injury and in some cases death. I welcome APIL’s campaign to see legislation extended to make the use of helmets compulsory for e-scooter users. The increased use of e-scooters will inevitably lead to a rise in accidents, but it is essential that every effort is made to lessen the impact and severity of such events when they occur”.

If you or someone you know has suffered a Personal Injury as a result of an accident of any kind, contact the Personal Injury Department on 0800 6528411 for a free consultation and to discuss your options.