Watch out for e-scooters! Trial set to expand further across London

Electric scooters may be controversial for many drivers, but London travellers have clocked up more than 10 million kilometres on rented two-wheelers since the UK’s biggest trial launched.

Wandsworth is the latest borough to join the trial, which means a third of the capital’s boroughs are involved. Unlike the hordes of illegal e-scooters being used routinely on UK roads with no apparent sanction, the fleet of 4,000 e-scooters operating legally in the trial are limited to 12.5mph and have ‘always on’ lights in an effort to improve safety. According to Transport for London (TFL), just 0.0004 per cent of legal e-scooter journeys have resulted in serious injuries, but outside the trial the picture is more chilling.

According to official figures, there were six fatalities involving e-scooter collisions in 2024, and an estimated 1,194 casualties. The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) recently pointed to the fact that 49 e-scooter-related deaths have occurred since 2019, and has recommended that the Government should take action against retailers of illegal e-scooters, as well as promote more active police enforcement against those using them on the roads. 

PACTS also says the Department for Transport should improve the recording of e-scooter casualties, after the council’s investigations showed fewer than 10 per cent of e-scooter-related injuries showing up at hospital casualty units are being recorded in official data. 

TFL, meanwhile, paints a much more appealing picture of the officially regulated trials. It says new analysis shows the injury risk rate for the trial decreased year-on-year over the first three years of operation, while there have been no fatalities during the trial. It says operators also reported that more than 94 per cent of e-scooter trips complied with rules around parking.

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