While driving along Bull Street heading east and about to cross Union Street - a sketchy proposition at any time - an e-scooter appeared in front of the vehicle just as I was pulling onto Union Street.

No lights. No helmet. No worries.

The use of personal mobility devices (PMDs) has exploded on Newcastle footpaths and streets over the past 12 months. I even saw a couple of likely lads in Honeysuckle a month ago riding e-lounge chairs to promote the local show.

PMDs include e-skateboards and e-scooters, both of which are flying out of retail stores and onto a street or walkway near you.

These devices are growing in popularity around the world as commuters look for more efficient ways to move short distances around cities and communities.

This growing change in transportation preference, known as micro-mobility, is seeing people becoming less dependent on traditional forms of both private and public transport, in favour of these more individualised modes of transport.

PMDs do not include e-bikes.

E-bikes are in high demand in Australia, largely driven by inner-city commuters and baby boomers who are using them to prolong recreational riding enjoyment, enhance exercise or explore new towns where they have parked the mobile home or caravan.

Electric mountain bikes, folding e-bikes and commuter e-bikes range in price from about $1500 to more than $10,000 and offer typical battery ranges between 50km-100km.

In May 2012, the federal government embraced the European standard for e-bikes, but it wasn't until 2017 that every Australian state and territory had consistent laws.

Under the European standard, e-bikes can run a 250-watt motor activated by a pedal-assist system with the motor limited to 25kmh. But you don't need to be a mechanical genius to "trick 'em up" so they can reach more than double that speed.

E-bike imports in Australia have grown from 9000 in 2016-17, to 16,000 in 2017-18, 32,000 in 2018-19 and 50,000 in 2019-20. The pandemic put a kink in e-bike supply chains at the same time demand was booming. Demand remains high.

Back to PMDs. Unlike e-bikes, which can be used on roads throughout the nation, there is little similarity in legislative approach regarding where PMDs can be used. The Australian Road Rules have not kept up with the rate of change and growth of PMDs, as they were drawn up before the arrival of new technologies relating to these devices.

Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory are the only jurisdictions that have implemented legislation to enable PMDs to be legally used on public roads and paths.

Queensland allows PMDs on "road related" areas such as footpaths, bicycle-only paths and shared paths, unless a "PMD prohibited" sign exists. Riders can also use PMDs on local streets with a speed limit of 50km/h or less, providing the street has no dividing line or median strip and if it is a one-way road, it can't have more than one lane.

Many users in NSW are probably unaware PMDs cannot be legally used on roads and paths in this state. But given their popularity on the Bathers Way and on the paths around Lake Macquarie, the increasing number of users are either committed anarchists or ignorant of Road Rule 240(2)(c) which prohibits a person from travelling in or on a motorised wheeled recreational device on a road or public place.

No powered device except approved e-bikes can be ridden anywhere except private property.

Flying past both pedestrians and patrolling police, e-skateboard and e-scooter riders often remain undetectable because "stealth" boards have small hidden motors that can hardly be heard under the hum of wheels on cement.

A report last year by an "electric scooter advisory" working group assembled by Transport for NSW found e-scooters "may have the potential to transform personal mobility, facilitating first and last mile journeys and freeing up capacity from our congested roads".

Their use would also necessitate "significant legislative change" and would possibly need to involve a "complex and costly enforcement regime".

But it seems certain that NSW will be not be changing the law any time soon. NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance told a NSW budget estimates hearing he's "not in the mood" to run a trial to see if the devices should be allowed.

And while PMDs are illegal on roads and in public places in NSW, the rampant proliferation of the devices in those spaces in our local area suggests no-one - not users, not law enforcement - gives a toss about Road Rule 240(2)(c).

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