Perth council urged to make e-scooter ban permanent as police launch crackdown
A friend of Perth man Thanh Phan, who died after an e-scooter crash in the CBD on the weekend, has called for the city's open-ended suspension of for-hire e-scooters to become permanent as police target the devices in a statewide crackdown.
Lee Carroll also urged Transport Minister Rita Saffioti to review and change laws that allowed people to ride e-scooters on footpaths.
'Allowing motorised vehicles to share footpaths with pedestrians is fundamentally unsafe,' Carroll told this masthead.
'The Australian Medical Association has long warned of the dangers of e-scooter use. It should not have taken this tragic death for action to be taken.'
Phan was rushed to hospital in a critical condition on Saturday night after he was allegedly hit by an e-scooter operated by Alicia Kemp, a 24-year-old British tourist who had spent the afternoon drinking with a friend.
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On Tuesday, Perth Magistrates Court was told Kemp hired the e-scooter on Murray Street and was riding as fast as 25km/h on the footpath with her friend on the back before they crashed into Phan at the King Street intersection.
The 51-year-old engineer fell forward and hit his head, while Kemp's friend was thrown from the scooter and sustained a fractured skull and broken nose.
Kemp returned a blood alcohol content reading of 0.158, the court was told. Her charges were upgraded to dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm and dangerous driving occasioning death on Tuesday after Phan died in hospital.
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Perth Now
6 hours ago
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Tourist accused of killing dad in e-scooter crash identified
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The Age
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Sydney Morning Herald
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