Injury Prevention Week 2022

This year’s Injury Prevention Week organised by The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) runs from 27th June – 1st July.

As well as supporting those injured in accidents and their legal representatives, APIL campaigns nationally on issues around health and safety.

This year’s campaign focuses on e-scooters. We all recognise the need to develop greener modes of transport, and e-scooters have the potential to reduce traffic and emissions.

In the Queen’s Speech in May, the Government announced that is planning to legalise the use of privately-owned e-scooters on public roads.

At the moment it is only legal to use e-scooters on public roads if they are part of an authorised scheme. It is estimated that allowing privately owned e-scooters onto public roads could lead to an influx of up to 750,000 e-scooters.

In 2021 there were nearly 900 casualties from collisions involving e-scooters. Some injuries were catastrophic, and some incidents resulted in death. With the scale of use set to increase, safety is an important issue for everyone whether they use e-scooters or not.

APIL wants to highlight the legislative, and practical, measures which would help to protect people and reduce the number of these incidents. Top tips, which the Government could consider making compulsory, include wearing a helmet, never riding more than one person to a scooter, using lights at night and making sure the e-scooter is well maintained. Of all these, the most vital is to wear a helmet. It could literally save your life.

Jenny Gilbertson, Head of Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence at Fiona Bruce and Co is a member of APIL.

The contents of this article do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only.