“E-scooters will be fitted with artificial noise devices to reduce the risk of pedestrians being hit by silent riders on pavements and road crossings.

The Times, 20th November

Audible alerts will be emitted from battery-powered e-scooters for the first time after concerns over a significant expansion of the technology.

Tier Mobility, which operates e-scooters in York and 80 other cities worldwide, will add the noise to its vehicles next year. Research led by the Thomas Pocklington Trust, the charity for blind and partially sighted people, will be carried out to design the warnings and establish when they should be employed.

The sound is likely to be some sort of electronically generated engine noise or a constant pulse.

In July the UK government launched a year-long rental e-scooter trial in select locations around the country. While e-scooters are banned on pavements and limited to top speeds of 15.5mph, concerns have been raised about the risk to pedestrians – particularly those with disabilities and those who are visually impaired.

Eleanor Southwood, chair of the Royal National Institute of Blind People, previously told the government’s transport committee that e-scooters pose “a real and genuine threat to the ability of blind and partially sighted people to move around independently and safely”.

Tier’s commitment to fit its e-scooters with speakers is a bid to reassure regulators and advocacy groups that the vehicles will not pose a safety risk.

Charles Colquhoun, CEO at Thomas Pocklington Trust, said: “By introducing the audio alert systems Tier is directly responding to the concerns that the introduction of silent, heavy and fast e-scooters represents a real danger to blind and partially sighted people.

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