Scooter rental service Lime is spending over $3 million as part of a campaign to encourage safe riding practices. This campaign — which is known as “Respect the Ride” — is an ad campaign that is reminding scooter riders to wear helmets, follow local laws, park properly, and be aware of their surroundings. And there will be safety ambassadors to educate local communities about how to safely use scooters.
Lime is also planning to launch a new fleet of electric scooters with larger wheels, dual-wheel brakes, and better suspension. Plus Lime also set up a “Respect The Ride” pledge asking users to wear a helmet, park responsibly, and use bike lines. And the Lime is offering a free company helmet for the first 25,000 users who sign the pledge. And Lime is also going to hand out 250,000 free helmets to riders around the world.
According to a recent Bloomberg article titled “The Bloody Consequences of the Electric Scooter Revolution,” hundreds of scooter riders have ended up in hospitals with injuries ranging from gravel rash, to knocked out teeth, and detached biceps.
Due to these high numbers of accidents, several cities have been conducting efforts to block the electric scooter companies from expanding to their locations. For example, the city of San Francisco banned scooters from its streets so that a permit system can be set up to limit the numbers. And other cities have confiscated the electric scooters until licensing agreements were set up.
Lime has raised about $467 million in venture capital funding since it launched, according to CrunchBase. Lime’s most recent round of funding was in July 2018 and Alphabet’s GV led the round. IVP, Atomico, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Uber also participated in that round.
