The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed the claim to challenge three paragraphs of clause 1.2 of the Rules of the Road (SDA), which in a particular case made it possible to consider an electric scooter as a vehicle. The reason for the court’s investigation of the issue was the lawsuit of the motorist Davit Chepechyan. He became the first known case that reached the sun, which concerns electric scooters.
In May 2021, Chepechyan became involved in an accident: turning left, he collided with a scooter on the road. As a result of the accident, the driver of the scooter died, because of which a criminal case was initiated under Part 3 of Art. 264 of the Criminal Code (violation of traffic rules and operation of vehicles, resulting in the death of a person). Chepechyan received the status of a witness in it.
In August 2021, an autotechnical forensic examination was appointed in the criminal case. She determined that the Chinese Dualtron Ultra electric scooter with a 5.4 kW engine and a top speed of up to 85 km/h was a “mechanical vehicle.” This conclusion of the expert, Kommersant wrote, meant that we were talking about an accident involving two vehicles, in which Mr. Chepechyan violated traffic rules, not giving way to another car when turning left.
Lawyer Oksana Glukhova, representing the interests of Chepechyan, challenged this in the Supreme Court.
In the Armed Forces, government spokesman Hayk Maryan pointed out that the technical features of some electric scooters, especially those close in functionality and power to mopeds, predetermine a high degree of danger. “The use of such electric scooters is not fully controlled by the person who controls them, and therefore these vehicles can be sources of increased danger,” he was quoted by RAPSI.
From the file of the case on the website of the court it follows that the court refused to satisfy Chepechyan’s claim.
The president of the National Automobile Union, Anton Shaparin, points out that the refusal to satisfy this particular claim does not mean the recognition of electric scooters as a vehicle: “The logic of the court and the conclusions about what he had in mind can only be understood from the reasoning part of the decision.”
At the same time, he supports the very idea of recognizing electric scooters of the vehicle. “It would be extremely correct and logical, because if there are signs of a vehicle – the presence of an engine and the function of transporting a passenger, the vehicle should be considered in this capacity,” says Shaparin.
The head of the interregional public organization of motorists “Freedom of Choice” Vyacheslav Lysakov thinks that only the development of social culture can improve the safety of electric scooters, and the decision of the Supreme Court will not change the situation: “The Armed Forces did not equate scooters to vehicles.”
The managing partner of the legal company “Steps” Andrey Sharkov believes that classifying an electric scooter as a vehicle would completely fit into the logic of traffic rules. He points out that traffic rules are different for automobile and other low-powered vehicles.
“Cyclists and scooter drivers can move on the sidewalks, despite the fact that they are vehicles, but in the event of an accident, their responsibility is similar to motorists,” explains the lawyer.
A representative of the Urent kicksharing service told Vedomosti that the technical characteristics of the Yurent electric scooters have a maximum speed limit of no more than 25 km / h, which is provided for by the design of the scooter. “According to the current legislation, which is guided by the traffic police, a vehicle is not a device with a maximum speed provided for by their design, no more than 25 km/h,” the service says.
A Whoosh service representative also noted that the service’s scooters do not accelerate faster than 25 km / h and are equipped with an engine with a power of less than 250 watts in continuous continuous load mode. They say that in 2021 the service developed and implemented zones of additional speed limits: “For example, in parks, squares and areas with heavy pedestrian traffic, the speed of a scooter is systematically limited to 10-15 km/h. Such speed limit zones are fixed in a number of agreements between the service and city administrations.”
“The only significance of the current precedent is that the courts recognize that there are inconsistencies in the legislation according to which people on scooters are classified as pedestrians,” says Polina Volkova, editor-in-chief of the Trusharing thematic portal. She recalled that the Ministry of Transport is preparing amendments to establish the status of individual mobility aids (IM) and the rules for them, they should be adopted in the near future.