Kerry County Council urged to address ‘reckless’ e-scooter riders
The KerrymanKerry County Council has been pressed to help address the problem of “reckless” e-scooter driving after Listowel’s pitch and putt was vandalised by masked riders.
Councillor Tom Barry urged the council to work with the Garda to promote the “safe and respectful” riding of e-scooters to children and parents alike.
He called for an action day in schools to specifically address the problem which is popping up across the county.
Under laws enacted last year e-scooters are banned from footpaths and can’t be used to carry passengers.
Any riders must be 16 years or over and must stay under a speed limit of 20km/h.
Cllr Barry said he had seen these laws, including the age restriction, knowingly or unknowingly contravened in Listowel, with riders “flying around recklessly”.
Many young users were obeying the law, he said, but the few that were not were causing serious hazards for pedestrians.
In a council meeting last week he expressed his dissatisfaction with the council’s Road Safety Week in October and thought a whole day should be dedicated to raising awareness in schools specifically around e-scooters.
A garda informed Cllr Barry that a recent change to legislation meant that the charge for getting back a confiscated e-scooter had actually been reduced from €125 to €40.
He was told the reasoning was the charge for motor vehicles was €125 and it was thought that the same charge was unfair for e-scooters and e-bikes.
“I don’t want to see any garda confiscating e-scooters with all of the people using them and driving respectfully but…we need to legislate for them properly,” he said.
The motion came after greens on Listowel Pitch and Putt Club were damaged by masked young e-scooter riders.
Occurring over a few weeks, the damage was a hammer blow to the voluntary community group that work hard to maintain it.
A course committee member told the Kerryman after the incident it was “soul destroying” to see.
“There are plenty of kids on their e-scooters and doing no harm, they are not going fast, they’re not in the way of older people and it’s fine.
“The issue is that the guys doing the damage are wearing helmets and masks, we can’t identify them,” they said.
One youth was caught doing donuts on the green of the 13th hole and had to be chased off.
It would have been destroyed if it wasn’t firm – in wet weather the damage would have been catastrophic according to the committee member.
“If they went up on them now [after the wet weather], they’d destroy the place, because of the way we have had our course become very soft. They’d do damage that would close the green, and that would mean we would have to put them back together,” they said.
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