Woman hit by Lime scooter 'knocked out cold'

Debra Christensen was hit and knocked out by a Lime scooter as she was getting off a bus near...
Debra Christensen was hit and knocked out by a Lime scooter as she was getting off a bus near Auckland's Victoria Park. Photo: NZ Herald
A man has appeared in court on a charge of careless use of a vehicle after a woman was struck by a Lime scooter when she stepped off a bus on to a central Auckland footpath.

The man appeared in the Auckland District Court today facing one charge of careless use of a vehicle causing injury after the incident on June 25.

He was allegedly riding the e-scooter on the footpath on Fanshawe St and struck Debra Christensen as she stepped off a bus.

The incident was captured on a camera fixed to the bus Christensen had been riding.

The man was granted remand without plea and is set to reappear on October 2. He was also given interim name suppression.

Her husband Paul Charman spoke to the New Zealand Herald from Auckland Hospital soon after the incident as his wife was treated.

He said Christensen was left bleeding and wedged against the wheel of the bus after the collision.

"She doesn't remember what happened after that because she was knocked out cold.

"Her head was under the wheel of a bus, that's how bad it was."

He said his wife, who is a keen mountain climber and adventure-lover, had lacerations to her face and skull.

A passenger on the bus called 111.

She said the young male scooter rider was "very shocked".

The day before Christensen was injured, a 59-year-old man died while riding a Lime scooter along Fanshawe St.

The man died of natural causes, but his death is the first connected to the controversial e-scooters in New Zealand.

Auckland councillor Christine Fletcher has previously called for "a complete review" of the e-scooters in a bid to introduce tighter safety regulations.

Comments

I have ridden one of these scooters, just the once when I missed the bus and had to get to an appointment, and quite frankly it didn't feel particularly safe! The hard, small wheels didn't cope well with the undulations of the footpath or streets of Dunedin, and there were various hazards such as kerbs without sloped crossing points to navigate, as well as the large speed differential between me and other people and vehicles. I won't be doing it again any time soon!

It's only a matter of time before someone dies - we've already seen plenty of people injured, both riders and innocent bystanders, it's only luck that so far there haven't been deaths.