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The debate over Lime scooters needs to focus on safety, not emotion, a leading safety regulator says.
Garry House, a committee member and chairman for Standards New Zealand, previously held the position of corporate safety manager at Air New Zealand during a 40-year career with the airline.
The Christchurch man now runs his own company, Envirolight International, a hazardous area specialist consultancy and inspection company, as well holding committee roles with Standards New Zealand.
He told the Otago Daily Times he had been discussing the safety of Lime scooters with the company's Australasian representatives.
He had also been in touch with Dunedin writer Lynley Hood, who is the co-convener of the Dunedin Pedestrian Action Network and a trustee of the Visual Impairment Charitable Trust Aotearoa (Victa).
Dr Hood last week suggested the Dunedin City Council had been "conned by a snake-oil salesman" into allowing e-scooters on to city streets.
She was circulating a petition calling on Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Chris Faafoi to withdraw Lime scooters from public streets until a new approach to their use could be agreed.
A spike in minor and more serious injuries followed the introduction of Lime scooters in Dunedin and other centres.
However, Mr House - speaking in a personal capacity - told the ODT her argument was based on "emotion, not logic".
Scooters and other alternative forms of transport were the way of the future, and the debate needed to focus on ensuring safety, he said.
"We are not going to stop this type of personal transport. What we need to do is make sure it's safe."
He believed crash rates seen immediately following the introduction of Lime scooters to Dunedin and other centres were higher because many people were still learning to ride the new devices.
It was the same when a child first learned to ride a bike, and the crash statistics would settle down within 12 months, he said.
In the meantime, a widespread recall of Lime scooters was not the way to go, he argued.
Although any injuries were to be avoided, cycles and skateboards were bigger problems - causing more injuries - and nobody was suggesting they be recalled, he said.
"You don't hear them coming, either," he said.
The real issue to be tackled was the increasing use of footpaths by different modes of transport.
It was that "bigger picture" that needed to be the focus, rather than singling out one mode of transport, he said.
"That's what we're aiming at. She [Dr Hood] is not helping by picking on one [transport type]," he said.
It was an issue discussed by Dunedin City Council chief executive Sue Bidrose in the wake of last month's accident involving United States woman Renee Whitehouse.
Dr Bidrose suggested at the time an alternative approach might be to regulate the use of footpaths, cycleways and roads by speed, rather than individual transport types.
That could have everyone travelling below a certain speed - regardless of how they did it - permitted to use footpaths, while those over a certain speed had to use cycleways or - at higher speeds - roads, with helmets.
"That's worthy of some consideration," she said.