Dr Hood, who is the co-convener of the Dunedin Pedestrian Action Network, said yesterday the NZ Transport Agency "appears to have blundered" in allowing e-scooters to operate on footpaths.
By law, in order to define e-scooters as non-motor vehicles, the NZTA had to issue a gazette notice, and then present the notice to Parliament. But the NZTA had not presented this "within the required time", she said.
Dr Hood, who is also a trustee of Visual Impairment Charitable Trust Aotearoa, says the process of legalising e-scooters had been rushed through.
The Government’s decision to let e-scooters use footpaths had already led to "significant injuries" and very young and very old people were "obviously highly vulnerable" to being seriously injured, she said.
Pedestrians with poor hearing and eyesight could step into the path of an oncoming scooter, and teenage pedestrians wearing headphones were also "vulnerable".
Over the past five years, 527 pedestrians were hospitalised with serious injuries caused by collisions with low powered vehicles such as bicycles.
Walking was New Zealand’s "most popular, most affordable" and sustainable form of transport, and pedestrian safety should be prioritised, she said.
NZTA and Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter were approached for comment yesterday on whether e-scooters could be used legally on footpaths, and how pedestrians could be better protected against injury.
A spokesman for Ms Genter referred the queries to NZTA because they involved an "operational" matter.
The NZTA did not comment on the legality issue, but provided NZTA internet site information on "low-powered vehicles" not requiring registration or a driver’s licence.
Such devices on footpaths had to be operated in a "careful and considerate manner", and at a speed "that does not put other footpath users at risk" and must "give way to both pedestrians and drivers of mobility devices".
Anyone riding an e-scooter dangerously "on any part of the footpath, cycle lanes or road may be subject to police enforcement", NZTA warned.
