City of Vincent curbs e-scooter rentals following the death of 51-year-old pedestrian Thanh Phan in Perth
Another council has pulled the pin on e-scooter rentals a day after the City of Perth suspended the service following the death of 51-year-old pedestrian Thanh Phan.
Mr Phan was allegedly struck down from behind by an intoxicated rider in Perth's CBD about 8.40pm on Saturday.
He suffered a brain bleed and was rushed to hospital, but died from his injuries days later.
British tourist Alicia Kemp, 24, now faces charges of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm and dangerous driving occasioning death after Mr Phan died.
Police allege she was under the influence of alcohol with a 26-year-old passenger on board, before she hit Mr Phan.
The City of Vincent's decision to suspend e-scooter hires while it reviews the service comes a day after its neighbour, the City of Perth, suspended the service in response to the fatality.
Vincent informed its residents e-scooters were no longer be available for hire until further notice and all hireable e-scooters would be removed from the streets within the next 48 hours.
Vincent Mayor Alison Xamon said they were very saddened to hear about Mr Phan's death.
'Like our neighbours at Perth, we have decided to temporarily suspend our trial so we can review the safety of the hireable e-scooters and consider ways to improve this service or if it even needs to continue,' she said.
'We will continue to work closely with our service providers on potential changes to their operations here in Vincent.'
Ms Xamon said public safety was a top priority and they would consider if safety-related measures such as time-of-day restrictions could be implemented on e-scooters.
Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page told NewsWire at least one person a day was admitted to WA's trauma unit with major injuries caused from e-scooters.
Dr Page said the number of patients with really serious traumatic injuries from e-scooters had been increasing and they were seeing people being admitted with serious head injuries, bone fractures, life altering injuries and sometimes fatal injuries.
'It's really a scourge in terms of injuries in our society and the problem with these council endorsed private hire e-scooters in city centres is people are hopping on without any experience riding e scooters,' he said.
'They're often intoxicated. They might be riding at night. They might not be wearing proper protection and so the chance for something to go wrong is, is very, very high.'
While the AMAWA are not calling for a total ban of e-scooters, Dr Page said hire schemes endorsed by councils to activate city centres and bring vibrancy were a risk
'The question really has to be, does the benefit outweigh the risks when we're seeing deaths and many injuries?' he said.
'They are dangerous you've got plenty of evidence from other cities around the world, other countries around the world, from across WA that these schemes are not very safe.'
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