A frightening near-collision between an e-scooter rider and a toddler at Howard Smith Wharves has drawn new scrutiny of shared paths in busy areas.
A video, recorded and shared on TikTok by the rider, showed him travelling along the shared path at night near Felons Brewing Co in Brisbane’s inner-city when a toddler dashed across in front of him.
The rider swerved to avoid the collision, and a seated diner then confronted him.
“What are you doing, mate? Slow down. There’s little kids here, are you out of your mind?”
The rider replied: “No, she just run onto the road.”
Comments on the video are mixed, with some blaming the parents and others the rider.
Housing and Public Works Minister Sam O’Connor was asked about the footage, and said he had not seen it, but pointed to the government’s new e-bike and e-scooter laws which began last week.
“Police are absolutely out in force taking action against people who are doing the wrong thing,” he said.
“But ultimately, people have got to be responsible for their own actions, particularly the riders of these devices as they’re going through busy precincts like that.
“We don’t want to see families being impacted by these riders, we don’t want to see little kids getting cleaned up.”
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner pointed out it was a shared path and said it was “not the Tour de France”.
“Some cyclists want to go as fast as they can along every pathway and there’s a reason why it’s called a shared path,” he said.
“Of these, only six incidents involved pedestrian and bicycles/scooters, an average of about one per year over a route more than 500m long,” it said.
“Based on accident numbers and estimated visitation of 5-6 million people per year, there does not appear to be an inherent risk of pedestrian and cycle collision within the HSW precinct.”
An expansion of Howard Smith Wharves was approved by Brisbane City Council in May this year.
Under e-mobility laws which began on July 1, riders of e-bikes and e-scooters must slow to 12km/h when passing a pedestrian on a shared path, but there is no speed limit for bicycle riders.
The account that posted the video was contacted for comment.
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