Racial discrepancies in London e-scooter stops and potential prosecutions, Met data shows
Black Londoners using e-scooters are three times more likely to be stopped, twice as likely to face a potential prosecution, and half as likely to be allowed to continue on with a warning and face no further action than their white counterparts, figures obtained as part of an FOIA request have revealed.
E-scooters are becoming an increasingly popular form of micromobility but occupy a legal grey area in the UK. While they are widely available for purchase, they cannot be used on public pavements and roads as they do not conform to vehicle standards regulations. In some places, exemptions have been introduced to allow trials of hire schemes but that now means the UK has a paradoxical stance on e-scooters allowing some at the same time as barring others.
E-scooter hire schemes are gaining more and more traction in the UK with a new trial about to start in London in June. As they do so, it raises questions around why private-use e-scooters still remain illegal and how this area of city transport can disproportionately affect Black individuals. Research suggests that privately owned e-scooters are more likely to replace car journeys than rentals, meaning they may have greater potential to help meet climate goals.
Micromobility vehicles have great potential in aiding the UK in decreasing the carbon emissions that come from its transport network. Along with adapting road regulations to become more welcoming to e-scooters, there needs to be a transformation of cities to prioritise climate-friendly travel modes and ensure their use is encouraged.
Hirra Khan Adeogun, Head of Car Free Cities at Possible, said
“These statistics reveal yet another disparity in Met policing that disproportionately affects Black people. Micromobility vehicles, like e-scooters and e-bikes, are essential ingredients to decarbonising our cities’ transport infrastructure, and they should be welcomed in our cities. Usage restrictions on privately owned e-scooters are not only a continuing roadblock to a more sustainable transport system, they also contribute to racist outcomes.”
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Notes to editors:
For media enquiries and further information on the data please contact press@wearepossible.org.
Hirra Khan Adeogun, Head of Car Free Cities at climate charity Possible, is available for comment, please contact press@wearepossible.org for more information.
Data was made available through an FOIA request. As there is no data on the ethnicity of London’s e-scooter owners, the data has been contextualised via the number of stoppages against the population of Londoners according to ethnicity. The percentage comparisons of these figures showed that black people were three times more likely to be stopped, twice as likely to be facing possible prosecution and half as likely to be allowed to continue with a warning and face no further action.
Possible is a UK based charity that brings people together to take positive, practical action on climate change. Combining individual and local actions with larger systemic change, we connect people with each other, and communities with ways to address the climate crisis. wearepossible.org
Possible changed its name from 10:10 Climate Action on 10th October 2019.
Research from Vienna published in 2020 found that privately owned e-scooters were three times more likely to replace car journeys than rental e-scooters: Barbara Laa, Ulrich Leth, Survey of E-scooter users in Vienna: Who they are and how they ride, Journal of Transport Geography, Volume 89, 2020, 102874, ISSN 0966-6923, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102874