People who trip electrical scooters are not any extra more likely to find yourself in hospital than are bicyclists, Kelowna metropolis council will hear Monday.
Between January and the top of August, 51 people have been treated for scooter-related injuries at Kelowna General Hospital, Interior Health says.
In the identical interval, 203,000 journeys have been taken on e-scooters by firms licensed to hire the gadgets in Kelowna.
That equates to an harm fee of 25 per 100,000 journeys, which metropolis officers say in a report back to council is “in line with the bicycle injury rate”.
One-third of all e-scooter injuries occurred throughout a person’s first trip, metropolis officers say, citing info relayed to them by Interior Health.
The introduction of e-scooters in Kelowna has been controversial, with some welcoming them as a enjoyable and environment friendly various to driving a automotive and others relating to the gadgets as an annoying novelty, a menace to pedestrians, and a hazard on the roads.
For 2022, metropolis officers say council ought to licence solely two e-scooter rental corporations and require each to supply all customers with a helmet.
Other working situations that have been imposed after this system’s roll-out, supposed to advertise safer use of the e-scooters, ought to stay in place for subsequent 12 months, metropolis officers say.
These embrace limiting the entire variety of e-scooters out there for rental in Kelowna to 700, requiring the position of not more than 30% of the entire fleet in downtown, and banning use of the gadgets in downtown from 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. to keep away from drunk scootering.
If council agrees to proceed the e-scooter rental program, firms will probably be invited to make purposes in December to turn out to be one of many two allowed suppliers.