Privately owned e-scooters could soon be made road legal, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has indicated.
Mr Shapps told the Commons Transport Select committee legislation will be included in the Queen’s Speech on 10 May.
Currently, e-scooters can only be used on roads in England if they are part of a trial rental scheme. They have to have safety features including automatic lights and maximum speeds of 15.5mph.
Privately owned e-scooters can only legally be used on private land, however, they are frequently seen in cities and towns across the country.
The transport secretary told the committee: “In the future, I want to crack down on the illegal use on roads of non-compliant e-scooters.”
Conservative MP Simon Jupp raised concerns over e-scooters’ safety, saying there were “900 collisions, 11 of which were fatal”.
He said he was concerned Mr Shapps’ comments indicate the Department for Transport (DfT) is considering allowing private e-scooters on roads as long as they meet similar safety specifications as those in the trials.
“We will take powers to properly regulate and then be able to decide the usage of them,” Mr Shapps promised.
“They’re a reality, they exist.
“If these things exist they need to be made safe, and I think the trials have been useful in gathering data and there’s more data still to gather.”
Image: E-scooters are currently only legal on public roads if they are part of a rental trial
Ben Bradshaw, another committee member, said e-scooters are a “convenient, cheap and environmentally friendly form of transport”.
He asked Mr Shapps when the DfT will “get a move on and properly license these things?”
Mr Shapps answered: “I shall announce it on 10 May.”
Read more: Teenage girl dies after e-scooter she was riding collides with van E-scooter crashes in London surge to more than 250 crashes in first half of last year
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Drunk man on e-scooter stopped on busy motorway
AA president Edmund King said after the session: “The government is right to address this issue and bring in regulations rather than allowing some of our cities to be over-run like the Wild West with illegal scooters.
“Micro-mobility and e-technology can have a positive effect on movement in our cities but we must ensure that movement is safe.”
