2023-04-20 00:33:33
The increase in the accident rate in Spain (25 deaths in the last two years) and the historic referendum in paris who has voted against rental electric scooters calls into question a type of vehicle that is becoming more and more fashionable in the main Spanish cities.
According to the DGT, Personal Mobility Vehicles (or VMP, including electric scooters) are vehicles with one or more wheels equipped with a single seat and powered exclusively by electric motors with a maximum design speed of between 6 and 25 km. /h. But this body recognizes that each City Council has its own rules and the way to act falls on the consistories themselves.
Some common rules are maintained, such as that VMPs are prohibited from going on sidewalks, pedestrian zones, crossings, motorways, highways, interurban roads or tunnels in urban areas. The routes authorized to circulate will be indicated by a municipal ordinance, but if there were none, circulation would be allowed on any urban road. Your speed should be between 6 and 25 km/h. Faced with this situation, the National Association of Lawyers for Accident Victims and Civil Liability has claimed the mandatory insurance for electric scooters.
According to Manuel Castellanospresident of ANAVA-RC “the rules are not met and accidents are increasing, adding to all this the confusion generated by the disparity of ordinances that regulate the use of these personal mobility vehicles.”
The disparity of ordinances that regulate the use of these vehicles causes cases as curious as “that when going from one municipality to another mounted on a scooter, it may be the case that in one it is mandatory, for example, the use of a helmet, and in the other not».
civil liability
Castellanos explains that today, a scooter user who causes an accident with victims under the influence of alcohol or drugs cannot be convicted of a crime against traffic safety.
Individuals do not have the obligation to insure the VMP and it is up to the users to have civil liability and third-party damage insurance. In the case of rental scootersif a company offers the user the possibility of having insurance, it is most likely that the guarantees it covers are unknown, so there is great legal uncertainty in this regard «and what is more serious, the user thinks that he is covered by an unlimited civil liability insurance and it is not true, “says Castellanos.
In March 2023, the draft law on civil liability and motor vehicle circulation insurance was approved, but after 5 years from the first definition of the VMP the insurance of these vehicles has not been regulated «and it is now, after its use is a daily reality, when it is proposed to create a commission of experts for its study».
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