WalkSydney

Real problems require real solutions. Note: this post discusses specific instances of road violence.

In August, treasured national institution the ABC wrote a terrible article about the alarming rise in pedestrian deaths. The piece falsely attributed this trend to an increase in e-bike and e-scooter crashes, before the ABC edited the article and issued a welcome correction, which nonetheless failed to name the actual threat: cars.

Motor vehicles cause the overwhelming majority of road deaths and serious injuries in Australia. Of the 205 pedestrian deaths recorded in the year ending 31 July, WalkSydney is aware of two that are confirmed to have been caused by people using e-mobility devices.

Road violence is a crisis, and real problems require real solutions, based on evidence. We need our publicly funded broadcaster to consider the data when choosing what to highlight (and whose voices to feature). Instead, last week they were back with another piece attributing deaths to e-mobility in highly questionable ways.

On 24 October the ABC published ‘Newcastle mother calls for tougher laws after toddler run down by e-bike’, which included:

The framing of the piece suggests that e-mobility devices are solely responsible for all of these incidents.

So we looked into them, and thought we’d provide some context for each from publicly available information, in no particular order:

• Wollongong: the ABC reported that a man fell from an e-scooter, was “struck by a passing vehicle,” and subsequently died
• Lithgow: news.com.au reported that a woman on an e-scooter “collided with a ute” at an intersection, and subsequently died
• Sans Souci: the NSW Police received reports that a person had fallen from an e-bike, and subsequently died
• Waterloo: the ABC reported that a person on an e-bike was “hit and killed by a NSW police car”
• Newcastle: the NSW Police received reports that a person on an e-bike hit an unmoving caravan, and suffered serious head injuries
• Toongabbie: the NSW Police received reports that a pedestrian was hit by a person on an e-bike on a shared path and subsequently died. The e-bike user was later arrested and released without charge pending further inquiries.

So, of the six, that’s at least three which involved a motor vehicle colliding with a person who later died. Exactly why the ABC failed to mention the role of cars in these crashes is unclear. The remaining three occurred within the last month and are subject to ongoing investigations.

In addition, we found no public evidence that suggests any of these took place on a footpath, which the article explicitly claims above. This distinction matters, because riding an e-bike or e-scooter on a footpath is currently illegal in most cases. Riding an e-bike on a road or a shared path is perfectly legal.

At WalkSydney, we advocate for people who walk and those who want to walk. Our members hold a range of views on how to best incorporate e-mobility into our transport network, but it is clear that bikes have a role to play in supporting our aims. Funding a network of separated bike lanes (not shared paths) is a WalkSydney ask.

In isolation, scrutiny on e-bikes and e-scooters is fine. But running articles like this distracts from the real issue and takes pressure off elected leaders who have failed time and again to address the real safety problem in our transport network.

We call on our national media to dedicate resources to reporting road violence accurately. With a clear voice telling the truth, we just might be able to do something about it.