Death of 37yo man riding e-scooter in Geraldton comes as council prepares to vote on Beam licence renewal

The future of rented e-scooters in Geraldton is in limbo as the council prepares to review the private operator’s contract in the wake of the Christmas Eve death of a 37-year-old man. The man died at the scene from his injuries after falling from a rented Beam e-scooter. He was riding along the footpath adjacent to Brand Highway, near the Glendinning Road intersection in Tarcoola Beach, just after midnight on December 24. The death comes as Beam’s licence— extended for two years in December 2023 after a 12-month trial — is due for renewal this month. Dr Nalini Rao of Mullewa Medical Centre was one of the first at the scene on Christmas Eve. She was driving by near the incident, and stopped to help when she saw that ambulance officers and paramedics had yet to arrive. “It had happened recently, so I started doing CPR,” Dr Rao said. “It got to the point where it was quite futile. I solicited for response, for any signs of life . . . at the scene you just do what you’re trying to do, you don’t think about it.” Dr Rao rarely sees e-scooter accidents at her practice in Mullewa. “I have a friend who works at Royal Melbourne, and when they introduced it there she was telling me anecdotally, I don’t know the statistics, that the injury levels went straight up,” she said, adding that she frequently saw children riding e-scooters around Geraldton with no helmets. A parliamentary inquiry into e-rideable use made 33 recommendations at the start of December, including comprehensive data collection, an audio alert system in line with requirements for electric vehicles, designated infrastructure for e-rideables, mandatory registration and licensing, tougher penalties and implementing a rider skill test. The State Government has yet to announce its response. The report also raised concerns about the speed that e-scooters are capable of reaching. “Footpaths in particular are not designed for motorised devices, particularly those travelling at higher speeds,” the report found. There have been eight e-scooter related deaths in WA in 2025, and the parliamentary committee said that the amount of e-scooter accidents was likely under-reported. The City of Greater Geraldton said in a meeting in June that the city averaged about 2500 e-scooter trips every week. Beam scooters, which first started operating in Geraldton in 2022, were currently licensed to operate 300 scooters in the city. The licence is up for renewal at the end of this month. A Beam spokesperson said they were assisting WA Police with the fatality. “We continuously invest in technology, rider education, and enforcement to help minimise risk, and more than 99.99 per cent of all trips are completed safely and without incident. However, as with any form of transport, it is unfortunately impossible to eliminate risk entirely,” the spokesperson said. The City of Greater Geraldton council will be meeting soon to consider its position, but no specific date has been set to review the agreement. Cr Shane Van Styn said that “no discussions between councillors” had been held about the upcoming decision regarding Beam’s contract. In June 2025, after a 51-year-old man died in Perth after being hit by an e-scooter, then-City of Greater Geraldton councillor Aaron Horsman put forward a motion to suspend e-scooter rentals in the city. The move was unsuccessful, with no other councillor willing to second the motion. Following the 12-month trial, a survey conducted by the Greater Geraldton council found the majority of those canvassed supported the e-scooter rental service. Mayor Jerry Clune emphasised the usefulness of the e-scooters during the holiday season when public transport was limited. “They’re a great way of getting around the city,” he said. Mr Clune said the council was always going to discuss the contract in January, because it lapses at the end of the month.