YouTube star's death prompts Amazon to push for e-scooter safety warnings in UK
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Following the death of YouTube star Emily Hartridge in a London accident, Amazon will reportedly begin asking e-scooter sellers to warn consumers about proper safety protocols in the United Kingdom.
In Britain, where the motorized scooters are banned from public roads and sidewalks, the Department of Transport early this year wrote to Amazon to "remind them about responsible advertising," reports The Sunday Times.
“We have confirmed we will write to sellers of electronic scooters to ask them to amend the wording on their listings to say that the scooters cannot be used on the public highway," an Amazon spokesperson told The Washington Post. "I’m afraid I can’t go into any more detail than that.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hartridge, 35, was killed when an electric scooter she was riding collided with a truck, according to the London Metropolitan Police. Her death was also the first fatal collision involving an e-scooter in Britain, according to The Guardian.
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YouTube star Emily Hartridge, above, was killed while riding a motorized scooter in London this week. (Fox News)
The Independent reports that the potential change would only apply to the U.K., even though e-scooters have become something of a public menace in several American cities.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to Consumer Reports, at least eight people have died and at least 1,500 have been injured in the United States while using rentable, dockless scooters since the fall of 2017. In addition, the consumer watchdog surveyed over 3,000 adults and found that most are confused about what traffic laws they should follow.
The motorized scooters, which have quickly risen in popularity, have prompted fears about safety on already-crowded city roads and sidewalks.
A study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open in January found that more people were injured while riding standing electric scooters than by riding bicycles or traveling on foot in the year ending August 2018.
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"This rapidly expanding technology is a disruptive force in short-distance transportation, and policy makers seeking to understand associated risks and appropriate regulatory responses should seriously consider its effects on public health," the study's authors wrote. "Riders share roads with fast-moving vehicular traffic but appear to underestimate hazards; we found that 94.3% of observed riders in our community were not wearing a helmet."
Following the death of an e-scooter rider in Nashville, that city moved to ban them. A number of other U.S. cities, including Aspen, Colo., West Hollywood, Calif. and Columbia, S.C. have imposed some type of e-scooter ban as well.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Los Angeles, residents who are fed up with e-scooters have reportedly been setting them on fire or burying them at sea.
Fox News reached out to Amazon for comment on this story.