Love them or hate them, electrical scooters have turn out to be one thing of a fixture in lots of European international locations.
The e-scooter rental market in Europe has boomed in recent times, with e-scooters changing into more and more common in city areas and with youthful individuals.
Income within the European e-scooter sharing market is projected to succeed in €651.90 million this yr, in line with Statista, whereas the variety of customers is estimated to hit 55.5 million by 2026.
E-scooters are seen as a simple, comparatively inexpensive approach for individuals to get round. Nonetheless latest deaths and accidents involving e-scooters have prompted authorities to take a more durable take a look at using such automobiles.
On an EU degree, the European Fee is taking a look at the opportunity of drawing up tips, whereas technical requirements are additionally being thought-about beneath doable plans for standardisation.
Within the meantime, international locations are taking issues into their very own fingers:
Rome and Paris: Limiting velocity limits
Authorities in Rome are transferring to clamp down on e-scooters, together with limiting their use to adults who should present formal ID, and additional limiting how briskly they will go.
The velocity restrict for e-scooters within the Italian capital might be lowered from 25 km/h to twenty km/h on roads, and 6 km/h in pedestrian areas with out automobiles. The variety of e-scooter rental operators will even be restricted to a few, and there might be restrictions on parking.
The brand new restrictions are meant to come back into drive in January 2023, beneath new draft laws seen by AFP.
This follows related restrictions in different European capitals. Paris launched new guidelines for rental e-scooters final yr, after the dying of a pedestrian hit by a scooter.
The brand new laws cap the velocity restrict for rental e-scooters at 10 km/h in some areas of the French capital, together with round key vacationer points of interest such because the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum.
Scooters run by rental corporations Dott, Tier and Lime, tracked in real-time by geo-location, are mechanically slowed right down to half their regular prime velocity as soon as they enter the designated areas.
The operators are additionally taking steps to handle rogue parking, requiring customers to take an image proving that they dropped off the scooter in the best place.
Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm: Nighttime bans, chopping e-scooter numbers
Authorities in a number of European international locations have additionally turned to banning e-scooter leases at sure instances of the day to try to curb accidents.
In July final yr, the Norwegian capital Oslo banned nighttime e-scooter leases following an outcry from medical doctors over the numbers of accidents sustained.
Authorities in Helsinki final September additionally banned e-scooter leases after midnight on weekends, and lowered their velocity restrict after a collection of accidents brought on by drunken riders.
In November, councillors in Stockholm voted to nearly halve the variety of rental e-scooters permitted within the Swedish capital, and to chop the variety of licensed scooter rental companies from eight to a few.
Denmark, Spain and Norway: Obligatory helmets, minimal technical requirements
A number of international locations have launched necessary helmets for riders, together with Denmark and Spain. The latter can also be introducing minimal technical requirements for e-scooters.
In Norway, helmets are obligatory for riders as much as the age of 15. The nation has additionally launched the identical drink-drive limits as for automobile drivers.
UK set to increase e-scooter use
Within the UK, e-scooter use is barely authorized for leases on public roads - privately-owned e-scooters are banned on public roads and pavements. Nonetheless, the federal government has stated that new guidelines to increase the authorized use of e-scooters are a precedence for the upcoming yr.
"Whereas driving a privately owned e-scooter on public land is at the moment unlawful, we're contemplating how greatest to design future laws and our Transport Invoice will assist us to take the steps we have to make e-scooters safer and assist innovation," a authorities spokesperson stated, in line with a report by the BBC.
Official rental trial schemes have been arrange in dozens of areas throughout the nation.
Underneath these trials, customers must abide by particular restrictions together with most speeds of 25 km/h, and the necessity to have a driving licence that enables for trial e-scooter use. Helmets are beneficial however will not be a authorized requirement.
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