For the last few weeks, Matthew Zammit has been checking every street corner and side road for a sight he dreads.

Something is coming to his local area, something that has already infested the streets of Sydney and Queensland, and the Victorian father is desperate to prevent it.

Last August, Darebin City Council announced it had allocated $50,000 of its 2024-25 budget for a trial of share hire e-scooters and e-bikes in Northcote, Fairfield and Alphington by June this year.

It came as a shock to locals like Zammit because the City of Melbourne had just banned hire e-scooters in the Melbourne CBD, less than 10km away.

Safety concerns pushed City of Melbourne councillors to ban the devices and break contracts with hire e-scooter companies six months early but that didn’t deter Darebin’s then-mayor Susanne Newton. 

At the time, she told ABC Radio she had spoken with hire e-scooter providers and was “pretty comfortable with the technology” they were using to improve safety.

Some Darebin locals weren’t convinced.

”People are going to get hurt, that’s the fact,” Zammit told 9news.com.au.

“You hit a pothole on [an e-scooter] and all the weight is up the back, so it becomes like a lever and just catapults you forward, head-first into whatever’s in front of you.”

Royal Melbourne Hospital treated more than 250 patients with e-scooter injuries in 2022 alone while the number of people who presented to Queensland hospital emergency rooms with e-scooter injuries almost doubled between 2021 and 2023.

Multiple deaths from e-scooter accidents have already been recorded this year and at least 30 people were killed between January 2020 and April 2025.

It’s understandable, then, that some Darebin residents are concerned about the safety risks of introducing a fleet of hire e-scooters to local streets.

Zammit is especially nervous about potential accidents and injuries, having experienced road trauma himself.

In 2010, he was struck by a driver doing an illegal U-turn while riding his motorbike and suffered spinal injuries, facial fractures and an acquired brain injury, among others.

He spent months in hospital, years in outpatient rehab, and still lives with significant disabilities today.

The last thing he wants is for people to be injured or killed riding hire e-scooters on the streets just outside his home.

“You see statistics of people seriously injured on roads and you can very easily just see a number, but each one of those serious injuries is a long journey of recovery,” he said.

“And in many cases, you’re not going back to what you were. You’re not getting back what you had … your life has changed forever.

“What’s the benefit of a shared e-scooter ride that offsets that type of risk and that type of harm?”

Other locals told 9news.com.au they were concerned about people riding recklessly or while intoxicated.

Mayor Kristine Olaris, who replaced Newton at the last local election, said the council was “putting safety and accessibility at the centre” of the trial.

Safety measures will include using “the latest technology” to restrict where e-scooters can park, detect and deter riding on footpaths, and limit speeds in busy areas.

Darebin City Council is yet to announce which e-scooter provider will supply the trial but industry giants Lime and Neuron told 9news.com.au they are committed to safety.

A Neuron spokesperson claimed ”over 99.99 per cent” of trips in the City of Melbourne ended safely before hire e-scooters were banned.

“We’ve introduced cutting-edge technologies like our AI-powered ScootSafe Vision system, which detects and controls footpath riding, and a range of AI features to improve parking compliance,” the spokesperson said.

They also claimed Neuron is in discussions with several Melbourne councils interested in the company’s rental e-scooters.

A spokesperson for Lime said the business was committed to its operations in Melbourne but did not respond to questions about safety.

And safety isn’t the only concern.

Zammit previously served on the Darebin Disability Advisory Committee and worries the trial will have a negative impact on locals living with a disability or mobility issues, as e-scooters left on footpaths can create trip hazards or block wheelchairs.

Complaints about obstructed footpaths and other compliance issues could cost the council dearly on top of the $50,000 it has already allocated to the trial; the nearby City of Yarra spent more than $180,000 responding to complaints in 2024 alone.

A bill like that could cause trouble for Darebin council, which Zammit claimed is “strapped for cash”.

“We don’t have money to fix the potholes, but we’ve got money for e-scooters?” Zammit said.

“Guess what? Those e-scooters are going to end up in the potholes you left there and somebody is going to hurt themselves.”

Council originally planned for the trial to kick off before July but Olaris said it is now targeting a launch in late August or early September.

A report on the results of the trial is set to be tabled at the council’s April 2026 meeting.

“The trial is designed to gather community feedback on the role of shared e-scooters and e-bikes in Darebin’s transport network,” Olaris said.

She added that the trial “will provide important insights into how shared e-scooters can work better for everyone in the community”.

But Zammit said locals have already made their thoughts on the costly trial clear.

“I can’t confidently just let this one go,” he said.

“The human cost, the cost of even just a handful of people in this area getting a brain injury, is worth it enough to stop this.”