The Government has committed to regulating e-scooters amid deaths and hundreds of serious injuries in crashes involving the vehicles each year.
It has not made a specific announcement but a pledge to seek “legislative reform for micromobility vehicles” was included in its recent Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan for the UK.
Shared transport charity CoMoUK welcomed the “excellent news” and claimed it would “end years of confusion about the legal status” of e-scooters.
Latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures show six e-scooter users were killed in crashes in England in 2023.
A further 416 people were seriously injured, including 343 users and 52 pedestrians.
Sight loss charity the Royal National Institute of Blind People has previously expressed concerns over e-scooters being ridden on pavements, which could “force blind and partially sighted people to step into the road”, putting them at risk of being struck by cars.
The UK has been described as an “outlier” among developed nations in banning private e-scooters from public areas, although they are often illegally used in many urban areas.
Legal trials of rental e-scooters on roads have been ongoing in towns and cities across England since July 2020.
A study commissioned by the DfT published in December 2022 found the vast majority of residents in trial areas had witnessed users of either rental or private e-scooters engaged in anti-social behaviour such as racing each other and performing dangerous stunts.
But the Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan features a commitment to encourage an increase in usage of the vehicles.
It stated: “We are … pursuing legislative reform for micromobility vehicles when parliamentary time allows, to provide a proportionate and more agile process for regulating low-speed zero emission vehicles (LZEV) likely including pavement delivery robots, e-scooters, and last mile delivery vehicles.
“Creating a clear route to market will drive the investment and usage in these new vehicles, unleashing businesses from the current regulatory burdens and kickstarting economic growth.”
The PA news agency understands regulation of private e-scooters could require riders to pass a test and obtain insurance, while manufacturers may be forced to limit the speed of their vehicles.
A Government source said: “Successive Conservative governments dragged their feet while a black market of e-scooters has been allowed to take over our streets.
“E-scooters can be a great way to get around but they must be properly regulated, safe for pedestrians as well as riders, and we must ensure they cannot clutter up our streets.
“This Government will act where the Tories failed to do so – legislating to crack down on illegal use to make our streets safe and accessible for everyone.”
Richard Dilks, chief executive of CoMoUK, said: “It’s excellent news that the Government has formally confirmed that it intends to legalise e-scooters alongside other innovative vehicles.
“However, ministers need to seize the moment and push ahead with this important work as quickly as possible.
“Our latest figures from the shared e-scooter trials show that there is huge potential for expansion and investment, which is precisely what we are told the Government wants.
“Legalisation will end years of confusion about their legal status, bring in key safety standards, and give this cheap, flexible and green mode of transport a long-term future.”
“We know we have to attract people away from the use of private cars, and e-scooters are one mode of transport that can help to do this, ideally as part of an integrated, sustainable transport offer.”
CoMoUK’s figures show 3.7 million riders have made a total of 60.5 million trips as part of the e-scooter trials.
