Rev Up Safety: Experts Demand Urgent Reforms for E-Bike and E-Scooter Regulations

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Queensland Police have issued more than 2,100 fines to e-mobility device users over the past two months, as part of the state’s major crackdown on illegal e-mobility use.

From 3 November to 23 December, 2,124 fines were issued by Queensland Police in relation to the lightweight battery-powered devices, including e-bikes, e-scooters, segways and e-skateboards.

Failure to wear a helmet was by far the most common offence, accounting for 1,652 fines, followed by use of a prohibited road (207), carrying a passenger (72), exceeding the speed limit (68) and failure to stop (61).

According to the Queensland government, 14 people have died in road incidents involving e-mobility devices this year.

Police and Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie expressed concern over the alarming rate of non-compliance.

“Too many riders are deliberately ignoring the road rules, putting themselves and others at serious risk,” Purdie said.

Queensland Police inspector Gareth Bosley said as the popularity of such devices has risen, the state was experiencing “increased trauma, both in fatalities and also serious injuries, presenting to our hospitals”.

“Numerous devices currently being used are not only illegal but also unlawful, featuring high power capabilities that match the speeds of motorcycles on our roads and pathways. Alarmingly, these are often operated without protective helmets,” he noted.

Any device surpassing these speed limitations will be categorized as an illegal road vehicle if operated outside private property.

Despite differences in wording, all states and territories define e-bikes as pedal bicycles with a motorised component, which are broken down into more specific categories based on where the motor is installed.

One issue that has not escaped regulators’ notice is that e-bikes can be modified to have higher or lower power output.

In Australia, the maximum power output for an e-bike is 250 watts, with a speed limit of 25km/h.

According to a 2022 report from Bicycle Industries Australia, the importation of e-bikes into Australia saw a staggering increase, climbing from 9,000 units in 2017 to 200,000 by 2022.

Western Australia is the only state with a general minimum age for e‑bike riders, where it’s set at 16. In other jurisdictions, there is no explicit minimum age to ride a legally compliant e‑bike.

However, all states and territories have set a minimum age for e-scooter riders.

In most states, it’s 16, and in the Northern Territory, it’s 18, although states like Queensland allow use from the age of 12 if under parental supervision.

“Children are increasingly urging their parents to buy them e-bikes as holiday gifts since their friends own them and they are perceived as entertaining,” he added.

“This indicates many e-bikes are either throttle-based or have been altered, rendering them non-compliant with the legal definition of an e-bike,” they explained.

Associate professor Alexa Delbosc from Monash University’s Institute of Transport Studies said the massive influx of e-bikes has continued, and a relaxation of import controls in 2021 is partly responsible.

“[The government] made it a lot easier for companies to import vehicles and just say that they will be used on private roads, and then sell them for public use, or have them be compliant at the border and make minor modifications … so that they’re not compliant once they’re here,” Delbosc told SBS News.

In November, the federal government announced it would reinstate standards limiting imported e-bikes to those that have a motor that cuts off above 25km/h, a power of no higher than 250 watts and a motor that only assists a rider when pedalling, rather than one able to be accelerated with a throttle like a motorbike.

An e-bike user herself, Delbosc said compliant e-bikes were “fantastic” for commuters who enjoy riding but may not be fit enough to ride regularly.

“It’s thrilling to be able to zoom along, and I think that’s the appeal for teenagers and young people,” she said.

“A lot of children are pestering their parents to buy them [e-bikes] for Christmas, because their friends have them and they are fun.”.

In May 2025, Delbosc and her team observed over 27,000 two-wheel vehicles across eight sites in inner Melbourne, finding that the majority of e-bike riders were food delivery riders.

The research — commissioned by the Victorian Automotive Chamber of Commerce — also found one in five delivery e-bikes exceeded the speed limit of 25km/h, up to 33 per cent rode on the footpath and 15 per cent went the wrong way.

The authors also found only 3 per cent of delivery e-bikers were pedalling while travelling over 25km/h.

“This suggests that many of these e-bikes are throttle-based or modified and therefore appear to be non-compliant with the legal definition of an e-bike,” they wrote.

Enforcement gaps and difficulties

The e-mobility crackdown in Queensland comes months after the state government launched a parliamentary inquiry into e-mobility safety and use in May, citing a 112 per cent rise in injuries to riders, passengers and pedestrians of personal mobility devices between 2021 and 2024.

In NSW, where around 600,000 households now own an e-bike, the state government announced new measures in early December, noting e-bikes were likely to be a popular Christmas present from parents to teenagers.

It reduced the benchmark for e-bike power output from 500 watts to 250 watts, with officials saying it’s been difficult for parents and police to identify high-powered bikes that can be unsafe for children.

Authorities also faced difficulties identifying an unlawfully modified e-bike, Delbosc said, adding that bringing in electricians to test battery wattage for every suspected illicit modification would severely strain police resources.

Milad Haghani, associate professor of urban risk, resilience and mobility at the University of Melbourne, also said there were gaps in regulation and enforcement regarding minimum age, helmet use and e-bike modifications.

He called for stronger law enforcement to tackle sales of illegal and unlawfully modified e-bikes.

“Currently, it’s very easy for a young teenager to access an e-bike that is not legal, that is high-powered, and it’s very easy for them to modify a regular bike … and these modification kits are available at a very small cost to them,” he told SBS News.

Haghani’s research suggests children account for one in three Australian e-scooter fatalities, although he notes there is still no comprehensive national database to provide an authoritative figure.

“We don’t currently have a process of recording these deaths, unlike other modes of transport where death and injury statistics go directly into the national databases,” Haghani wrote in August.

However, he said data released by groups such as the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network suggested there’s been a “sharp rise” in children being involved in serious e-bike incidents.

“I hope there’s a better awareness among parents and children on the safe use of these devices and know what devices are legal and what devices are safe … and what is essentially constituting safe behaviour.”

— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press