Tennis star Nick Kyrgios is facing a please-explain from police and potential fines for riding an electric scooter while not wearing a helmet and with a passenger aboard.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has confirmed that highway patrol will look into a photo showing Nick Kyrgios on a scooter in Melbourne without a helmet with his bombshell girlfriend, Costeen Hatzi.
Trial Scooter Rules in Victoria
Electric-powered scooters (e-scooters) are increasingly being used to transport in major cities worldwide, including Australia. In Victoria, we have seen an increasing number of people ride private e-scooters on public roads and footpaths despite being illegal, making Victoria the first state to Trial the scooters.
Trial rules
The trial’s regulatory framework has been developed with a range of stakeholders, including our road safety partners, and is enforced by Victoria Police.
For the trial, e-scooter riders:
- can only ride commercial hire e-scooters by approved operators
- private e-scooter use will continue to be prohibited on public roads and road-related areas
- can only ride in participating council areas(see maps below)
- operators will use geofencing technology to limit the devices to these areas, and there are no-go and go-slow zones within trial areas
- can only ride on bicycle lanes, shared paths and lower speed roads (up to 50km/h)
- riders are not permitted on roads with a speed limit of 60km/h or higher, even if there is a protected bike lane
- riders should slow down and give way to pedestrians on shared paths
- must not ride on footpaths
- will be automatically speed limited to 20km/h
- must be at least 18 years old
- must wear a helmet
- must not ride under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- riders must be below 0.05 BAC and have zero presence for prescribed drugs (heavy fines and loss of licence penalties apply)
- must not consume intoxicating substances whilst riding
- must not use a mobile device while riding
- must not carry passengers
- must ride single file
- must park an e-scooter in accordance with council and operator requirements
- in an upright position on the kerbside, in a manner that does not obstruct the footpath for pedestrians
- no-parking areas and preferred parking areas will be shown in the app
Penalties and infringements apply (see FAQs)
