Common e-scooter myths in Australia, debunked

Myth 1: The footpath is always the safest place to ride

Reality: it isn't even always legal. NSW and Victoria both prohibit e-scooter footpath riding outright, it's a specifically fineable offence in each. South Australia takes a different approach, allowing footpath riding but capping speed at 10 km/h. See our full breakdown of where you can actually ride an e-scooter by location type.

Myth 2: Victoria banned private e-scooter ownership

Reality: it didn't. This is one we corrected directly against Victoria Police's own current guidance while researching this project, private e-scooter ownership is legal in Victoria, under conditions (shared-use paths or roads up to 60 km/h, not footpaths, a 20 km/h operating limit, 16+, helmet). See our dedicated Victoria explainer for the full picture, including why the confusion exists in the first place.

Myth 3: 25 km/h was chosen because it's the safest speed

Reality: the National Transport Commission's own analysis says the opposite. Permitting personal mobility devices up to 25 km/h on pedestrian paths was found to carry the highest safety risk among the speed options assessed, it was chosen because the combined mobility and economic benefits were judged to outweigh that risk, a genuine policy trade-off rather than a number derived from stopping distances.

Myth 4: If a hire scooter operates in my city, my own scooter is legal there too

Reality: not necessarily, and in NSW specifically, definitely not. Personal e-scooters remain illegal on NSW roads and road-related areas, including inside the state's own hire-scheme trial areas, private ownership is restricted to private property regardless of whether Beam, Lime or Neuron operate nearby.

Myth 5: Most e-scooter injuries happen because of car collisions

Reality: a recent UNSW-led study of almost 4,700 Victorian emergency department presentations found almost three-quarters came from falls or loss of control, collisions with vehicles made up only a small fraction. See our full coverage of that study for the detail, it genuinely reshapes what safety habits are worth prioritising.

Myth 6: You need insurance to legally ride an e-scooter

Reality: no Australian state requires it. Legal-class e-scooters are treated like bicycles, unregistered and with no compulsory insurance scheme. That's different from being covered if you cause an accident, see our insurance explainer for the genuine liability gap this creates.

Myth 7: A faster top speed always makes a "better" scooter

Reality: it depends entirely on where you're planning to ride. A scooter capable of more than 25 km/h isn't automatically worse, but if it has no way to be limited to 25 km/h, it's private-land-only in every Australian state, regardless of how capable it otherwise is. Top speed and legal ridability are two different questions.

Myth 8: NSW's new e-bike crush laws mean e-scooters can be crushed too

Reality: no, that law targets throttle-only, high-powered e-motorbikes being sold and ridden as e-bikes, a completely different device category to personal mobility devices like e-scooters, which sit under a separate part of NSW's rules.

Myth 9: Electricity is the main ongoing cost of owning an e-scooter

Reality: it's close to a rounding error, typically 12 to 21 cents per full charge at current Australian electricity prices. Tyres, maintenance and eventual battery replacement are where the real ongoing cost of ownership actually sits.

Myth 10: Kids can't easily get hold of a private e-scooter

Reality: the opposite is true, and it's a genuine, documented problem. The same UNSW study found injuries among children aged 2 to 14 quadrupled between 2022 and 2025, linked specifically to privately owned devices, which lack the age-verification checks built into hire scheme apps.