Ms Victoria Springthorpe:

To elaborate on our e-scooter safety schools, our partnership programme with the Irish School of Excellence will be available to 80% of secondary schools across the country. Everyone will have one in their constituency, and members should feel free to get in touch for our demonstrations. The programme will be available for those aged between 16 and 18. The reason we are undertaking this partnership is that we find this younger age group the most problematic. They are less likely to read the in-app training information and things like that. We find it essential to speak to as many of the in person as possible.

The course is split between theory and practice elements, like a driving school would be, and it will cover all sorts of topics, including what the rules of the road will be in Ireland once these vehicles are legalised and how to ride properly. E-scooters are a unique mode of transport, especially concerning the balancing element, which is unique to any kind of bike or anything like that. One aspect, for example, explores how riders should bend their knees properly and where to place their feet on the footpath. We were talking about geofencing, which is unique to e-scooters, and we inform people how to interact with those geofences when they encounter them, because many riders do not know what to do the first time they are on an e-scooter. How to park properly is another aspect covered in this regard. As was mentioned, there are four types of parking: free floating; virtual docking; hard docking; and the lock-to-Bluetooth tethering cables. This aspect of training concerns what to do in the context of all those parking solutions. Another aspect is how to ride safely. Beginner mode is a slower speed than what the national average would be to allow new users to get used to training at that speed on private lands away from roads and cycle lanes. They can get a feel for the e-scooter first before going elsewhere.

Touching on the comments made previously, regarding the content we are using, we are engaging with the Road Safety Association, RSA, and different disability groups to highlight, from their perspective, how to interact with vulnerable road users and other transport modes and vehicles, such as bikes and lorries. E-scooters have a unique blind spot in respect of bikes, and I wish to highlight that aspect. Not only will we be teaching that from our point of view, but the Irish School of Excellence will be teaching those driving schools how to spot an e-scooter from the perspective that is unique to a bike as well.