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A judge presiding over the trial of a man accused of operating an electric scooter in a careless or inconsiderate manner causing injury has reserved his decision.
E-scooter.
Photo: 123RF
The defendant, Mitchell McIntyre, was tried today before Judge Christopher Field in Auckland District Court.
McIntyre collided with Debra Christensen while riding an electric scooter on the Fanshawe Street trail in Auckland Central on June 25, 2019.
She was getting off a bus at a bus stop when it happened.
Christensen received injuries that included facial contusions and lacerations and contusions to the hip, chest wall, cheek, chin, and hand.
He said he was also diagnosed with a concussion and needed a brain scan.
While testifying, Christensen described the moments after the incident, saying she lost consciousness before “waking up” face down on the road.
“It was like a dream, I came back and thought ‘oh I’m lying face down on the road’ and I tried to get up but I couldn’t …”
Christensen later said that she thought about going back to sleep and letting someone else take care of it.
People had crowded together to offer help, he said, which was seen in CCTV footage shown to the court.
“Oh, there were so many nice people who helped, including Mr. Mitchell, he helped and stayed, but there were two particularly lovely ladies and one other man,” Christensen said.
“They were using tissues and things for the blood that was coming out of my head and my mouth.”
The court heard how McIntyre had apologized at the scene and stayed with her until the ambulance arrived 20 minutes later.
Christensen had just started therapy because she was very angry, short-tempered, and had a high level of impatience since the incident.
Defense attorney Alistair Haskett argued that McIntyre had become something of a guinea pig when it came to electric scooters.
He also said that government agencies were promoting things like electric scooters as alternatives to cars.
If it wanted to make motor vehicles unattractive, the government needed to provide adequate facilities for alternative methods to be used, Haskett said.
“That has to be part of the context in terms of whether my client was careless or not.”
“He is operating within the system that has been provided to him, very recently before this, without guidance, without additional measures to help regulate the behavior, and to say that this was not appropriate what happened here.”
It was an unfortunate accident, but did not require a criminal penalty, Haskett said.
At the beginning of the trial, he asked if Christensen had looked both ways before getting off the bus, to which she replied: “I was watching my steps.”
Christensen said the bus stops were safe places.
In his filings, Haskett said McIntyre was a road user, legally on a trail that was part of the road.
He said pedestrians couldn’t just get out of a store, alley, driveway, bus or parked car in the path of other road users on the trail.
McIntyre’s speed had never been determined either, Haskett said.
Police prosecutor Victoria Brooker said Christensen’s evidence showed that there was justification for a conviction in the case.
She said that electric scooters can be used on the trail, but that it is up to the user to operate them in a considerate manner that does not put pedestrians and other road users at risk.
Brooker said the fact that the bus had stopped in front of McIntyre and was next to a stop meant that he would have known the passengers would disembark.
“And he should have slowed down to avoid any collisions. The bus and the complainant were there to be seen.”
He said that if McIntyre had been driving at an adequate speed, he would have had enough time to stop and avoid the severity of Christensen’s injuries.
Brooker said McIntyre should also have given the bus more space.
Judge Field reserved his decision.
