This seems like a sensible but odd carveout. The law is essentially legalising e-scooters on shared paths, and bike lanes on roads with no more than 20km/h. The proposition does not allow them on footpaths, which you’d think would be the most relevant place. Personally, I’m surprised they wouldn’t allow them on footpaths but no more than 5 km/h in heavy pedestrian areas (anywhere a car would have to do 40 km/h or less), especially since you could potentially require shared e-scooters to enforce this speed with GPS.
I don’t have data to base this on but would place decent bets on it being noticeably more dangerous than driving for the individual riding the scooter and noticeably less dangerous for anyone they run into. The rate would depend on how you measure accidents though - per kilometre would be a lot worse than per trip.
Escooters aren’t really good vehicles for rider safety - small wheels (often with no suspension), unstable geometry, and a riding position with limited ability to brace oneself means you do have to be careful. It does require a solid readjustment coming from my dirt bike in particular (where hopping 20-30cm logs is easy) onto the scooter where hitting a little tree root raised bit of tar at 25km/h will just about throw you off the thing.
They are definitely convenient and fun though, it’s a good thing that NSW is finally moving to allow them.
One thing I noticed about them when I was visiting Perth is how silent they are. When people are using them on footpaths, I as a pedestrian had almost no indication that there’s one about to pass from behind unless the rider speaks up. So turning or stopping on footpaths felt quite dangerous. Almost got hit by one when I was trying to walk into a shop and someone whizzed by. Maybe if they’re more common around Sydney I’d learn how to notice them better but that experience scared me a bit.
Roads and footpaths aren’t designed with anything in mind except for cars. That’s why they are more dangerous. The rental escooters in Christchurch have bigger wheels, suspension, and one brand is three wheeled.