Mr. Ray O'Leary:

I thank the Chairman, Deputies and Senators for the invitation to attend today’s meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. As we initially noted when the committee issued its invitation, we are not yet in a position, as requested, to discuss the specifics of proposed legislation to deal with the emergence of personal powered transporters, PPTs, as no such legislation is proposed at this time. However, insofar as we can assist the committee to develop its understanding and appreciation of the issues which developments in this area raise, we welcome the opportunity to engage with the members. It is, I may say, an important and positive development to see the committee take such a forward-looking approach to its work.

The use of devices such as e-scooters, Segways, electric skateboards, powered mini-scooters, electric unicycles and non-pedal assisted electric bicycles on the streets and roads of cities has become more common across the world in the past few years. These various devices are often collectively classified as powered personal transporters. Because many such vehicles are not easily defined in law, their regulation, particularly in terms of safe usage on public roads and other public places where they interact with other modes of transport, varies considerably from country to country and indeed, in federal jurisdictions, within countries. The notable upsurge in the number of e-scooters used in many of the main cities in Europe and the US has focused recent discussions regarding their numbers, collisions, how and where they can be used and by whom, and the criteria in respect of the vehicles themselves. There have been particular concerns where private operators have started to offer these items for hire on the side of the street by means of mobile phone apps, without having any regard to the regulatory or physical environment in which they are doing so, but not only in such circumstances. This upsurge has been driven by new private firms, typically owned by venture capital and other private equity funds, and by a rapid increase in the production of the items by manufacturers primarily based in China. A number of main cities have moved to introduced controls to restrict their numbers and to control and even license their use. In some cases, cities have moved to ban their use, either for hire or more generally, because of the adverse impact experienced and risks associated.

In this country, section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 classifies such vehicles as mechanically propelled vehicles, MPVs. Mechanically propelled vehicles cannot be driven on public roads or in public places without the appropriate driving licence, tax and insurance. Due to the multiplicity of forms of PPTs and lack of established standards, they do not fall within the categories which we currently use for such purposes. It is therefore not permissible to tax or insure them and no category of our EU-based driving licence covers their use. Therefore, despite some opinions expressed to the contrary, there is no legal grey area and they are not considered eligible for use on a public road or in a public place. Such an approach is also that of a number of other countries, including our neighbours in the United Kingdom.

E-scooters and other forms of PPTs are treated differently in other countries. In the UK, they fall under the definition of a motor vehicle, similar to our MPV, and their use is still illegal on all UK roads, cycle lanes and pavements, although they may be used on private property. Riders found using them in a public place are subject to a £300 fine and six points on their driving licence should they hold one. Germany has recently taken a different approach. There they are classified as personal light electric vehicles. I am afraid I do not know the German for that. These have recently been provided for by the personal light electric vehicles regulations, introduced on 6 June 2019, which legalised their use. Users must be aged 14 or over and vehicles must be registered and insured. There are stringent testing procedures and conditions regarding their use. Much of this reflects the broad civil law environment where, as a lecturer told me many years ago, anything that is not specifically permitted is forbidden. Everything is very tightly regulated in these environments.

Arising from public discussion on the question of providing for legislation to deal with the emergence of PPTs on our roads and footpaths, the Minister, Deputy Ross, requested the Road Safety Authority, RSA, to conduct research into the use of e-scooters in other countries, taking account of the implications for the interaction of such vehicles with other vulnerable road users along with other normal vehicular traffic. The RSA commissioned Transport Research Laboratories, TRL, of the UK to carry out this research on its behalf. TRL recommended that if the Minister were minded to provide for their use, the use of such vehicles could be allowed in certain circumstances, with controlled and considered roll-out to mitigate against potential negative safety implications. The RSA also recommends that a restrictive approach be taken when regulating the use of such vehicles. I will not recap the details because the RSA will be touching on them in its opening statement. The RSA also stressed that the suitability of our infrastructure is a critical factor in considering whether to allow the use of these vehicles.

A number of the recommendations in the RSA report raise fairly fundamental legislative and other legal and indeed practical issues. Clearly, the additional administration required for licensing and so on would have to be funded, presumably by those who wish to avail of these vehicles. The question then arises as to where such regulation properly should lie - the report refers to both local and national regulation - and of course as to whether any such regulation can be effectively enforced, if at all. There are other key resource questions to be considered. These include the implications in terms of additional infrastructure and its cost, and most of all there are a number of opportunity costs to be considered. These include the potential loss of road space for other sustainable modes, such as public transport, walking and cycling, which are already highly competitive modes in urban areas. Some Deputies from the Dublin area would, I imagine, note how contentious issues around road space have proved in regard to recent plans for public transport. Other opportunity costs are the potential diversion of Garda resources to enforce these vehicles from wider enforcement of the law; and of course the general question of which sectors would lose out if additional funding is required.

These issues are to some extent reflected in the views of the National Transport Authority, NTA, which had a look at the issue of e-scooters some time back and took the view that they should not be allowed on our roads. That view was reached following consideration of a number of key issues, including the question of how the top speed is to be enforced as there are a number of options available to upgrade the vehicle’s software that will increase the top speed to nearly 80 km/h or 50 miles per hour for those of us who were taught in what one of my teachers called Christian units. Other key issues include the suitability of their operation after dark, as the position of lights, particularly the rear lights, on existing models can be too low to be effectively seen by other vehicles sharing the road space; as well as the question of whether the onus will shift to road authorities to provide road surfaces suitable for tiny wheels as such an engineering requirement does not exist at present. The NTA national cycle manual gives advice for road and street design based on the normal and expected road behaviour of existing road users and does not take account of e-scooters and so on. This goes back to the issue of conflicting modes.

Our understanding is that these first came to be used by adults in the context of private firm and university campus environments in the west of the US where, very often, the standard of road surface is very high. How will claims for compensation following accidents due to road surfaces, not to mind incidents involving other road users, be dealt with? Given the size of the wheels on these vehicles, the speed at which they can travel and how prone they can be to imperfections in the road surface, including drains, their use could increase the number of claims taken against local authorities, which ultimately will reduce the resources available for road maintenance and improvement. This is significant given the challenging budgetary situations faced by many local authorities. These are valid concerns and must be taken into consideration when making decisions about legislating for or regulating these vehicles. It is not a simple or straightforward matter of just legislating for them. There are many factors to be considered and road safety is of paramount importance.

At an EU level, anecdotal evidence on the high number of accidents is hardening, with many member states calling for technical harmonisation to improve the quality of the vehicles themselves. As a consequence and recognising that the RSA and TRL, along with most researchers in this area, encountered significant difficulties in carrying out research due to a lack of robust evidence being available at this time, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport initiated a public consultation process which asked whether their use should be legalised. The consultation process sought to investigate from a purely Irish perspective the conditions under which e-scooters and their like might be legislated for in this country, as well as the fundamental question as to whether the public interest, in terms of resources, public safety and sustainability would be served by legalising them. The consultation concluded on 1 November and in excess of 500 submissions have been received. The Department is currently examining those submissions with a view to submitting a comprehensive report to the Minister in early 2020 at the latest, at which time a decision will be made as to whether to amend existing legislation and if so, to what extent it should be amended.

I am happy to answer any questions members may have but I will not claim to have hard answers, as noted in my statement. This is an area in which sound, research based evidence is limited and we must rely on our best analysis of the facts that we do have. I thank members for their attention.