Letter to the Editor: Footpaths a battle zone

On reading the editorial (Advertiser, March 30) I was reminded of a letter I had written to the CEO of the City of Albany in October last year asking that the council consider e-scooters and bikes be banned from the foreshore path at Middleton Beach, between the Surf Club and Three Anchors. (There is an alternative path, which luckily they are using at the present to avoid wind and sand.)

Children running from the picnic area to the beach and on Sunday morning Nippers training to the Surf Club should not have to look both ways to avoid the danger of being hit by a bike or scooter.

The answer I received from the City of Albany was, that area is gazetted as a bike path and in an area declared by the Minister of Road Safety as an “Electric Personal Transporter” use area, Registration 230B of the Road Traffic Code 2000, but surely it must have been applied for?

I first came to live in Albany in 1954 and have always loved being here.

I love to walk and keep as fit as I can at my age, but now it seems that all footpaths have become bike paths.

The path at the beach is an asset and well used, but walking as I do, at 2kmh, an e-scooter going past, with no warning, at 10kmh is equivalent to driving at 50kmh and being passed by a silent rocket travelling at 250kmh and it’s quite frightening.

I have paid council rates for many years and feel that residents should have had a say in this matter, perhaps then common sense would have played a part.

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