Santa drops into town to promote e-scooter safety

Santa has swapped his sleigh for an e-scooter to promote rider safety while raising funds for a good cause. 

Melbourne e-scooter hire operator Neuron has joined forces with the Australian Road Safety Foundation for their annual Festive ScootSafe campaign – with the jolly man donning an orange outfit to lend a hand.

“Safety Santas” will be out at e-scooter stations around CBD in the lead up to Christmas as they provide safety tips to riders. 

For every safety briefing held, Neuron will donate $2 to Launch Housing, a Melbourne-based specialist homelessness organisation.

Launch Housing team members have access to free Neuron passes, which has allowed staff to ride more than 320 hours or 3200km in the past year to conduct their vital services.

As part of the Christmas campaign, there will also be a “Neuron Xmas Challenge”.  Riders will have to find and take a ride on one of 10 special Christmas-themed Neuron e-scooters in the city for the chance to win one of 10 free Neuron monthly passes.

This will be complemented by rider education boosted on social media and in-app messaging. 

“With the holiday season upon us we want to make sure riders enjoy themselves in a safe and responsible way when using our e-scooters,” Australia and New Zealand general manager at Neuron Mobility Jayden Bryant said.

“Please don’t be tempted to drink and ride, park responsibly and always wear a helmet on our e-scooters, it’s the number one piece of safety equipment.”

The partnership comes at a time when e-scooter use is on the rise with safety concerns have been raised about illegal activity including riding on footpaths, not wearing a helmet, and double dinking.