Teen Cops Fine in NT in Spite of Legal Rental E-Scooters
Despite electric scooters being freely and legally available to rent on footpaths across Darwin, a 16-year-old boy was pulled up by Darwin Waterfront rangers on Tuesday for riding his own e-scooter, and issued a $316 fine.
Photo by Michael Bourne
His mother spoke with ABC Radio Darwin outlining her frustrations at the bizarre situation in which anyone could jump on one of the 250 orange Neuron hire scooters being left on footpaths, but privately-owned electric scooters remain illegal to use on those same footpaths, or indeed any other public area in the Northern Territory.
The general manager of Darwin Waterfront Corporation, where the incident took place, Sam Burke has confirmed this legal gotcha.
“Personal motor scooters, other than the Neuron hire scooters, are classified as motor vehicles under Territory legislation, so they require registration,” he said.
“If they’re not registered, that’s sort of a matter for the police and transport, but for within the Waterfront municipality, we have a rule that you cannot operate a motor vehicle within the public domain without permission.
“The Neuron scooters have permission as part of the NTG and city of Darwin trial, which we’ve accepted as well, but for private motor scooters, they’re not allowed and subject to infringement.”
Listen to the ABC Radio interview with mum Kathy from the 3:53 mark here.