Lime director of government and policy Mitchell Price (front) scoots for joy after the company hit a million rides during its first six months in Brisbane. Credit:Sabrina Walker The move had already been trialled in about 100 cities around the world, including Paris and Santa Monica in Los Angeles "We don’t want the scooter to come to a stop. We think that is inappropriate and unsafe. But the slow-speed zones are there to slow the user down and to be respectful of those around them," he said. "We will continue to learn from the mistakes of the past and if that means we have to look at reducing speed all options are on the table." Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey did not rule out reducing the legal 25km/h speed limit on Thursday and said the government was monitoring the use of electric scooters.

The scooters were limited to 15km/h during a trial in Adelaide. "I know Adelaide's done it a little differently to us; most cities have got variations in how they're rolled out," he said. Mr Bailey said the government could consider introducing varying speed limits but did not want to add a level of complexity for users. "Given that this is still a very new way of moving around, we're looking at other jurisdictions and how they do it ... If we can make improvements to safety, we will," he said. Also included in Lime's safety campaign will be user surveys asking what speed riders believe is safe, in-app messaging and a safety event every Saturday in Newstead.

The fast-growing start-up is giving away three free rides per user to encourage Brisbane residents to scoot to and from the polls for Saturday's federal election. During the first six months of operation in the river city, Lime hit 1 million scooter rides from more than 250,000 different users. It is preparing to roll out a third-generation scooter with bigger wheels, better suspension and a more rigorous design to tackle Brisbane's hills. But Mr Price said the theft of 11,000 helmets in six months was a major headache. "Simple maths on the back of the envelope of 750 scooters would say that there is a good chunk of helmets being used by a good chunk of other people," he said.

"In my Uber this morning from the airport I saw a number of CityCycle users sharing our helmets. "Helmets are a challenge for us ... what we need to do is a bit of personal responsibility. If you see a helmet on the ground pick it up and hang it onto a scooter. "We’re also looking at different innovative ways to introduce a QR code scanning, so you have to scan the helmet when you scan the scooter." Australia's first Lime-related death occurred in Brisbane last week when a man, 50, fell off the scooter down the stairs near the Wheel of Brisbane, hit his head and was found in cardiac arrest. Mr Price said he had contacted Princess Alexandra Hospital and asked that his details could be passed on to the man's family so the company could offer support in any way possible.

Loading Previous issues in Brisbane included a dangerous glitch that caused the scooters' wheels to lock-up without warning and throw riders off. Lime said it monitored all scooter brakes every 0.5 seconds following the glitch's discovery and was confident it had been fixed with a firmware update. Michael Feodoroff, who charges Lime scooters as what's known as a "juicer", said two per cent of riders were giving e-scooters a bad name. "I have seen some users around which I do not agree with how they use the scooters ... pulling tricks mainly, going down sets of stairs on the scooters, causing them to snap," he said.