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Rome to impose new rules to curb ‘wild west’
e-scooter incidents
Authorities concerned about riders speeding, mounting
pavements and abandoning vehicles
Tom Ambrose
Sat 25 Jun
2022 14.34 BST
Authorities
in Rome are to impose new electric scooter rules, such as restricting use to
adults with ID, after a number of crashes and near-misses in the city.
The
e-scooter rental market has boomed in recent years, with 14,500 scooters
currently available in the Italian capital, provided by seven licensed
companies.
Authorities
are moving to clamp down on the situation, including people riding on pavements
and sometimes with more than one person on board.
Seventeen
people have been killed in Italy in the past two years after incidents
involving electric scooters, according to the consumer protection association
Codacons.
Its chief,
Carlo Rienzi, described Rome last month as “a wild west, with scooters going
where they shouldn’t, often with two people on board, breaking the speed
limit”.
Rome police
say they record an average of 15 accidents a month, according to AFP.
The new
rules include restricting the use of electric scooters to adults with formal ID
and limiting the number of operators in the city to three.
There will
also be restrictions on parking, a move anticipated by the US company Bird,
which recently announced its scooters in the city centre could only be left in
designated areas.
The speed
limit will also be reduced from 25 kmph (15 mph) to 20 on roads and six in
pedestrian areas.
The draft
regulations, which are are expected to come into force in January 2023, have
pleased many.
“They cut
you off. They pass on the right, on the left, they get stuck in front of us and
risk being crushed,” said Paolo Facioni, a bus driver.
Residents
also complain that scooters are dumped haphazardly on narrow pavements,
blocking access for prams and wheelchairs.
For those
who use the scooters, however, concerns have been raised, particularly about
the reduced speed limits.
The
announcement comes in the same month that a US tourist caused €25,000 (£21,000)
worth of damage after hurling her electric scooter down Rome’s Spanish Steps.
The incident
was filmed by a passerby and police later caught up with the 28-year-old and
fined her and a 29-year-old male companion, who had wheeled his e-scooter down
the 18th-century marble steps, €400 each.
The pair
were also banned from returning to the monument.
Agence
France-Presse contributed to this report
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