The dangerous design flaw putting Lime scooter riders at risk

Ambulance officers have highlighted what may be contributing to the numerous serious accidents involving motorised Lime scooters.

A 50-year-old Brisbane man died after he fell off a motorised scooter and suffered a heart attack at South Bank Parklands about 12.20am Wednesday.

It is the first death in Australia from a crash involving a Lime scooter.

Lime on Wednesday said the scooter the 50-year-old man was riding did not malfunction.

Following the fall, Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) issued a warning to all those riding Lime scooters, saying there had been 80 injuries, including 12 needing operations, in the state in just the past two months.

QAS clinical director Tony Hucker used the latest incident as an opportunity to warn people about the specific dangers the scooters pose to riders.

“They are unique in the way they have really small wheels,” he told reporters.

“They are more prone to catching in divets and holes in the road so there’s probably a higher risk, particularly at night.

“They’re great fun and we do use them a lot but they come with some risk.”

Lime to introduce new, improved scooter

Mr Hucker is not suggesting wheels had anything to do with the 50-year-old man’s crash on Wednesday.

Lime did not comment on questions specifically relating to risks the wheels pose, but confirmed an improved model will feature larger wheels.

“Lime encourages its riders through its on-boarding process and in-app messaging to ride to the conditions of the road as they would when operating any other kind of vehicle,” Lime public affairs manager Nelson Savanh told Yahoo News Australia in a statement.

Lime said it would be trialling Lime-S Gen 3 electric scooters, which would have improved stability. No rollout date is set as yet.

“For starters, the upgraded 10-inch diameter wheels improve stability by increasing the scooter’s grip on the road,” Lime said in a statement.

“In fact, combined with a mountain bike-inspired front suspension system and multimodal braking, the Lime-S Gen 3 offers the safest, most comfortable shared scooter ride available anywhere.”

Man fractures both arms in Lime scooter crash

Lime has come under fire in recent months over the safety of the scooters after a number of crashes in Brisbane.

In January, Adam Nicholas, 34, fractured both his arms when riding to work through the inner-city suburb of Herston.

“I was travelling at about 30km/h when the wheels locked and the scooter seemed to stop,” he told Yahoo News.

“It was crazy. I flew and landed on the pavement just missing a metal pole.”

In April, Brisbane man Dylan Pires was also injured in a Lime scooter crash when the “wheels locked up”, sending him over the handlebars.

Lime confirmed there had been a glitch affecting a handful of scooters which locked the front wheel randomly.

Earlier this year a spokesperson said the company decommissioned all affected scooters and they were investigating the cause of the glitch.

Brisbane is the only state in Australia with the e-scooters. They were trialled in Adelaide during the Fringe Festival in February but were not continued.

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