Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Electric vehicles

Tim READ (Brunswick) (13:03): A lawyer rang me the other day to tell me he had a client charged with driving an electric unicycle without a licence and facing a maximum penalty of six months in jail. An electric unicycle is basically a single wheel built around an electric motor, and the rider straddles it and steers by balancing. While an electric unicycle may sound very Brunswick, it is one of many forms of electric transport that people across the city are using daily to commute, alongside electric skateboards, the more common e-scooters and the very popular e-bikes, several of which are in the Parliament bike shed.

As the unlicensed unicyclist now knows, our road laws have not caught up with this profusion of electrified personal transport now used by thousands of Victorians trying to avoid traffic jams and infrequent public transport. These devices are all illegal on public roads. Given around half of these riders are leaving their cars at home, we should be grateful to them rather than punitive, because they are reducing congestion and emissions. With the latest IPCC report urging rapid climate action on all fronts, we urgently need policy and infrastructure that encourage people to ride these new vehicles in a way that protects both riders and pedestrians. So I call on the Labor government to expand the definition of ‘allowable transport’ to accommodate these vehicles and prevent the persecution of riders who are no threat to other road users and who are doing more good than harm.