E-scooter speeds to be probed by coroner after man's death in Melbourne

How easily can an e-scooter be tampered with to make it go faster?

A coroner is grappling with this question as he investigates a rider's death in Melbourne.

Moustafa Abou-Eid, 28, was travelling 50km/h, more than double the legal e-scooter speed limit, when he hit a speed bump on a Pascoe Vale road and crashed in September 2022.

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Speed limiters on e-scooters are supposed to prevent them travelling at more than 25km/h and the current legal limit in Victoria is 20km/h.

Abou-Eid, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown from the standing platform of the scooter with his head hitting the bitumen.

Witnesses rushed to save him and an ambulance took him to Royal Melbourne Hospital.

He died in hospital from injuries sustained in the crash, about eight days later on September 30.

Coroner Paul Lawrie is investigating the circumstances of the crash, Abou-Eid's scooter riding experience and the design of the Kaabo Mantis 10 Elite e-scooter he was using.

That model was capable of travelling up to 60km/h, the Coroners Court was told today.

Lawrie is also examining the design, power output and top speeds of the Kaabo Mantis scooter and similar e-scooters, to look at opportunities to prevent further deaths.

This includes an area of "significant interest" around speed limiting devices, he said.

"Whether there was any signs of tampering or bypassing of a speed limiting device with a hope of trying to understand whether or not these provide some sort of robust protection," he said.

He said newer models have increased power output compared to older models and questioned why "all that power is sitting behind a speed limiter, unused ... if it's all for no purpose".

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"The sensibility of that approach is yet to reveal itself to me," Lawrie said.

"So I'm going to be very interested in what the speed limiters are, what they look like, can they be defeated? If so, how easily?"

A crash eyewitness and police experts will be called to give evidence at a one-day inquest on November 7.

The court is trying to determine which e-scooter company imports or distributes the Kaabo Mantis in Australia, to invite them to participate.

Freestyle Distribution Pty Ltd was initially asked to join the inquiry, but parent company Scooter Hut Holdings may be more suitable in discussing e-scooter standards in Australia, the coroner said.

"I'm told so far that the only standards that apply are in respect of the lithium-ion batteries that provide the power reserve for them," Lawrie said.

"Other than that, provided that they're not capable of (more than) 25km/h, they can be imported."

VicRoads, state and federal departments of transport will also be invited to participate, he said.

The inquiry comes after the Victorian government on Friday announced new laws and increased fines for e-scooter riders, to take effect in the state from October.