Patricia Gill, Denmark Bulletin

Eighty shared e-scooters began operation in Denmark this month to a mixed response about safety concerns. Over the Christmas/New Year holidays residents reported on social media about young people riding the scooters at night and on roads disregarding road rules.

There were complaints about the apparent abandonment of the scooters but these were invariably picked up overnight and redistributed by the hire company staff.

People 16 and older can ride e-scooters and they are restricted to footpaths, bicycle paths and shared paths and roads without centre lines to a speed limit of 50kmh or less.

E-scooters can be ridden at 10kmh on footpaths and up to 25kmh on bicycle paths, shared paths and local roads.

Riders must have an approved helmet, lights and reflectors when riding at night and, where possible, be fitted with a bell or other warning device to be sounded when approaching pedestrians.

The Denmark Shire Council last month approved Singapore-based e-scooter hire company Beam Mobility Australia to operate in Denmark from January on a 12-month trial.

Shire of Denmark chief executive David Schober said the Shire supported e-transport and Beam was offering the scooters as a sustainable transport option.

Sustainable travel and transport is a key to the Shire’s Sustainability Strategy which the council endorsed last year.

For approval to operate, Beam was required to comply with conditions such as enforced ‘slow zones’ in high-foot traffic areas such as Strickland Street, ‘no-ride zones’ and community education and training sessions.

Beam uses Global Positioning Systems and Global System for Mobile Communication technology, or ‘geofencing’, to set virtual boundaries and manage the e-scooters.

This information is accessed through the e-scooter mobile phone app and includes operational areas, speed limits and parking/docking areas.

Users of e-scooters locate, register, pay, unlock and lock e-scooters through the app.

At the end of the journey, users do not lock the device with a conventional chain or return it to a designated station or rack.

Instead, the scooters are designed to be dockless, meaning the user can choose where to end their journey, hence the complaints that the scooters have been abandoned.

Beam personnel monitor the e-scooter batteries, relocate those which have been misplaced and make them available for hire within their predetermined area.

This area has been developed in consultation with Shire officers. Initially Beam will employ Albanybased personnel with local staff servicing Denmark at a later stage of the trial.

E-scooter riders share the same rights and responsibilities as drivers and must obey the road rules.

This article appeared in the Denmark Bulletin, 12 January 2023.