Councillors to call for policy on e-scooters

COUNTY councillors are set to call for a policy regarding the use of e-scooters.

The matter is to be discussed at today’s meeting of the county council’s Roads SPC.  

Speaking to The Mayo News prior to today’s meeting, Fianna Fáil Damien Ryan said the existing policy was ‘far too lax’.

This comes just days after Castlebar resident Thomas Coady was killed in an accident involving an e-scooter in the Spencer Street area of the county town.

“If that never happened, the policy is far too lax and loose anyway,” said Cllr Ryan, who said that accidents were more likely to occur with greater update in the use of e-scooters.

“It’s only a matter of time before a pedestrian gets a right bad wallop of one of those,” added Cllr Ryan.

Legislation governing the use of e-scooters was signed into law last June. However, the relevant regulations have yet to be signed, meaning the vehicles remain illegal on Irish roads.

The regulations will permit the use of e-scooters on cycle lanes subject to a speed limit of 20kph. Their use will not be allowed on footpaths and must be operated by someone over the age of 16.

Today’s Roads SPC meeting is also to be dominated by discussions regarding the winter road maintenance plan.

The issue was debated for almost an hour at Monday’s meeting of Mayo County Council, despite it being on the agenda ‘for noting’.

Councillors agreed to speak to their local engineers regarding their own specific concerns between Monday and today’s Roads SPC meeting.

Cllr Ryan said that certain ‘pinch-point areas’ needed to be prioritised for gritting and salting. 

Monday's county council meeting heard complaints from several councillors regarding a lack of gritting and salting at schools, footpath and local roads in their areas. 

Mayo County Council is currently gritting over 1,350 kilometres of road in Mayo including 100 percent of secondary roads, 90 percent of regional roads and 5 percent of local roads.