Will electric bicycles and scooters have to be registered? Xavier Iacovelli, senator of the presidential majority, announced on Tuesday that he had tabled a bill to this effect. It targets these machines which are on the rise, especially on strike days, but which can be “source of danger”.
“These new modes of transport have profoundly changed the circulation in the heart of our public spaces, leading to numerous abuses, incivilities and dangerous behavior”, underlines Xavier Iacovelli (RDPI group with a majority Renaissance), for whom the regulations must “imperatively evolve “. It thus proposes the creation of a registration certificate for scooters and electric bicycles and more broadly for “motorized personal transport vehicles”.
A triple objective
The bill, which could be examined during a future parliamentary niche reserved for the RDPI group, intends to meet three objectives: “to ensure control of these vehicles” to “make users responsible in the event of accidents or infringements” ; “allow better identification of these devices, often abandoned on the public highway”; “give additional means to the police in order to fight against the abuses” that their use can cause.
A decree of October 2019 already regulates the use of electric scooters. It sets a minimum age of 12 years, limits their speed to 25 km/h, prohibits circulation on the sidewalks (except local exceptions) as well as the use of several. It also requires them to be equipped with front and rear position lights, reflectors, a braking system and a buzzer.
In 2022, 22 accidental deaths due to motorized personal transport devices (electric scooter, monowheel, Segway and hoverboard) were recorded in France, compared to ten in 2019, according to figures from Road Safety.