In a tragic case on February 3 in Perth, 13-year-old Ava Seculovic passed away from traumatic head injuries caused by an e-scooter crash. The eight-year-old was riding her e-scooter when she was hit by a car as she crossed the busy road. Ava had no helmet on at the time of the crash. Her dad had been telling her over and over just how important safety equipment is.
Michael Seculovic rarely had to stop hounding his daughter Ava and her friends to put on their helmets. This is currently a requirement under state law in Western Australia. Ava’s tragic accident raises a larger issue of how unsafe children are on e-scooters. It uncovers the obvious gap in safety enforcement. Current laws in Western Australia prohibit anyone younger than 16 from using e-scooters on public roadways. This hasn’t stopped thousands of young teens from regularly being spotted zooming around on them across Perth’s suburbs.
The case has brought renewed media focus to e-scooter safety concerns and responsible enforcement of regulations. Victorian data shows that between 2016 and 2020, 14 deaths resulted from e-mobility devices. We found that half of these fatalities were associated with e-bikes, and the other half were linked to other self-balancing devices, including e-scooters. Common traumatic injuries from these accidents include fractures, dislocations, and the most tragic and severe, traumatic brain injury. Alarmingly, nearly 85% of those injuries were a result of individuals riding without helmets. At the same time, only about 5% of injuries were related to speeding.
Despite regulations that limit e-scooter use by age and require helmet usage, children in their early teens often ride these vehicles without proper safety gear. Questions indicate that this pattern persists even in the wake of a forty-nine-fold increase in injury rates linked to e-scooters. The rates have increased dramatically—up to 0.3 to 14.9 injuries per 100,000 individuals.
Michael Seculovic stated in a press release that he is “devastated” by his daughter’s death. And he remembered all the times that he had begged Ava to be safe when she rode. The emotional toll of losing a child has, in his words, eaten him alive.
“It really sucks, it’s the worst thing in the world, but it’s reality, and that’s a hard thing.” – Michael Seculovic
He started by cracking down on helmet use at home. What he observed was that many of Ava’s peers rarely ever wore them. He acknowledged their common teenage angst around body image issues.
“But also, no one else was wearing a helmet, and like many girls, they are worried about their hair.” – Michael Seculovic
E-scooter regulation has been a hotly contested topic, but the regulations have gained steam following Ava’s heartbreaking accident. In Queensland, police have been warning about e-scooters that go over the legal limit for speed. In addition, regulations controlling e-scooter use differ widely between each of Australia’s states. In Western Australia, riders can ride footpaths as long as they stay under 10km/h. Conversely, Tasmania is even more permissive, letting them go as fast as 15 km/h.
Unfortunately, even extensive regulatory efforts haven’t prevented this illegal but common practice of riding on e-scooters with multiple passengers. Despite the crackdown, riders still routinely break the rules and pool rides. Mikey Seculovic had a good point about the practicality of enforcing such laws. He argued that if e-scooters were banned entirely, it would drive kids to look for dangerous substitutes.
“If you don’t let them have one, do you then run the risk that they will then jump on the back of someone else’s anyway?” – Michael Seculovic
The discussion about the safety of e-scooters goes beyond specific crashes. It involves important social justice issues too. For Chris Jones, the future cities senior associate with e-mobility advocacy group the Shared-Use Mobility Center, their rising importance in urban settings cannot be understated.
“These are some of the most accessible and affordable electric vehicles in the world, and they take up a fraction of the space of a car.” – Chris Jones
He made the case for smart regulation that helps foster innovative e-scooter use and protects the public from potential dangers.
Urban planner Stephen Greaves had a powerful intervention. He proposed that local roads are the best places for e-scooter use to begin with, including increased advocacy for lower speed limits. He mentioned that having paved, marked trails would make the area much safer and better to travel through.
“I think they’re alright on local roads, where we are moving to the 40 km/h default speed limits. I don’t think they should be on main roads.” – Stephen Greaves
Additionally, he suggested that suburban sidewalks be used as shared space, where both pedestrians and e-scooter users coexist on the same walkways.
“Outside of the CBD, I think they should be allowed on footpaths. You go out into the suburbs and you might see two people walking on a footpath, [so] you’ve got this perfect infrastructure for e-scooters; let’s use it for e-scooters and make it a shared path.” – Stephen Greaves
Ava Seculovic’s tragic death serves as a poignant reminder of the need for heightened awareness regarding e-scooter safety among young riders and their guardians. Urban built environments are changing to accommodate new modes and uses. In order to ensure that tragic events like these do not occur again, regulatory systems need to change along with them.
