Paris: tight on electric scooters, forbidden to under-14s

Tightening up on electric scooters in France: the Paris government has decided to ban their use by children under the age of 14 and to introduce heavier penalties for transgressors. Beyond the Alps, around 2 million people own an electric scooter and thousands use it with self-service rental services. In Paris, incidents related to it have increased exponentially in recent years.

Among the victims, on June 14, 2021, also Miriam, a 31-year-old Tuscan who worked as a waitress in an Italian restaurant, overwhelmed and killed by two girls on scooters who didn’t even stop to help her.

The Paris municipality has therefore organized a local referendum for April 2 that could ban them. Open to all citizens, the referendum poses a simple question: “Are you for or against the self-service scooters in Paris?”.

Interviewed by the Parisien newspaper on February 15, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, said she was rather in favor of a ban “but I will respect the vote of the Parisians”. As for the national plan presented today by the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune, it aims for a “pacification of the public space”, with more rigid rules. “If well organised, well regulated, electric scooters can be a chance,” says Beaune, promoter of the decree which will bring the minimum age to drive an electric scooter from 12 to 14 years. These will have to be equipped with indicators and stop lights and a sharp increase in fines is expected, which will go from 35 to 135 euros for those traveling in two. As for the use of helmets, it is not made compulsory even if the option remains on the table, the ministry specifies. Also announced the creation of a national observatory for micro-mobility.

Source: Ansa

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