London E-Scooter Trial Expands, Safety Record Strong

London's regulated e-scooter rental trial has expanded to Wandsworth, making rentals the only legal e-scooter option in a third of the city's boroughs, with over 10 million kilometres traveled and five million trips since 2021. Transport for London data shows these rentals have a strong safety record, with only 0.0004% of journeys resulting in serious injury and no fatalities reported during the trial. This contrasts with higher injury and fatality rates for illegal private e-scooter use. Authorities are increasing enforcement against illegal e-scooters and testing new technologies like AI-based parking compliance to boost safety. Rental e-scooter demand has risen 27% year-on-year, with most trips being short and local. However, research from Ireland continues to highlight significant injury risks for e-scooter users, often linked to risk-taking and insufficient safety gear.