NOW that the dishonourable conduct of at least one commercial hire e-scooter company has allegedly been revealed and at least one city council has cancelled their licence, I would like to re-iterate many differences between commercial and private ownership.
As I, and others, submitted in submissions to the State Government Parliamentary inquiry during their exhaustive consideration before proposing the SA bill to legitimise private ownership of small personal electric vehicles subject to strict conditions: Private owners pay a considerable sum for their scooter.
They are not going to leave them lying around the footpaths and streets any more than cyclists do.
Private owners can and do practise on their scooter in quiet and private places, including the State ES8 Association’s come and try and learn days, in large and small open private spaces, with volunteers giving single and group instruction.
Private owners do not find themselves on a Friday night in the city after leaving licensed premises and renting a strange new electric scooter for the first time.
Private owners have an association code of conduct, including how to respect other road, bike lane and path users, which is actually stricter than the laws proposed by the new Bill.
One reason that I was given, by the previous liberal government, when refused lawfulness to ride my e-board in public, was on the basis that only commercial companies could be relied on to comply with the rules.
It seems that turns out not to be true.
I hope that the disconnect between private ownership and commercial operations is now more obvious.
John Bolton, Gawler East
