Stricter rules coming soon for electric scooters. Parliament is dealing with this, as part of the process that sooner or later will lead to the reform of the Highway Code, which has been overdue for too long. Both in the House and in the Senate, recalls laleggepertutti.it, the discussion has recently begun on two bills presented to establish clearer – but also more rigid – rules on the use of electric scooters, as well as monowheel, hoverboard and segways, now equated to bicycles in the experimental phase introduced by the 2019 Budget law.
What do these bills foresee? First of all, they reserve the driving of the scooters for those who have reached the age of 18. It obviously means that minors will be prohibited from driving these vehicles. Then, there will be the obligation to wear a helmet and reflective jacket. There will also be a ban on driving with electric scooters (and other similar means) after sunset. It means that in the summer you can go around more, as the sun sets later.
And again: the speed limit will be confirmed at 20 km / h and there will be the possibility to circulate only on urban roads and cycle paths with a limit of 30 km / h. There will be a ban on parking on pavements, with the possibility of forced removal.
It is not to be excluded – and this too would be a constant novelty – the obligation of insurance coverage, a sort of RC car for scooters. If at the beginning it was discarded (perhaps for reasons of expediency, that is, because it was considered an unpopular alley), the statistics on accidents that have occurred since the experimental phase began today advise to impose a policy not only on those who use shared vehicles , as expected today, but to anyone who leaves the house with the electric scooter. In fact, it should be remembered that up to last February there were 25 serious accidents, two of which were fatal. There were 11 injured in a reserved prognosis, about fifty with a prognosis of up to 40 days. If we consider that so far the traffic in the cities has decreased due to the limitations related to the coronavirus, in perspective, when all the activities will be reopened and the circulation will return to “full speed” the pitfalls for those traveling on these vehicles will inevitably multiply.
All while waiting for the cities to have more spaces for mobility with bicycles, scooters, monowheel, hoverboards and segways, starting from the cycle paths.