People in Paris have voted “overwhelmingly” to ban rental electrical scooters from the French capital’s streets in a ballot which officers have stated they are going to implement.
The result’s being hailed as a victory for street security campaigners and comes after a rising variety of accidents and fatalities amongst customers of e-scooters.
Three deaths and 459 accidents had been attributed to e-scooters in Paris final 12 months, in comparison with one fatality and 353 accidents in 2021.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated the results of the non-binding referendum “becomes our roadmap” and promised to usher in the ban.
Nearly 90% of the greater than 103,000 individuals who voted supported a ban on e-scooters. Around 1.38 million individuals had been eligible to participate within the ballot. The vote came about on the identical day because the Paris marathon.
“The Parisians who spoke overwhelmingly spoke out against self-service scooters,” Ms Hidalgo stated.
“Their very clear message now becomes our roadmap. With my team, we will follow through on their decision as I promised.”
The self-service electrical scooters accessed by way of smartphone apps have operated in Paris since 2018.
As complaints elevated over the way in which the scooters had been being deployed, officers minimize the variety of operators to 3 in 2020.
The metropolis’s 15,000-strong fleet of rental e-scooters are offered by Tier, Lime and Dott.
Operators got a three-year contract and had been required to cap the velocity of scooters to 20kmph (12.4mph).
Designated scooter parking areas had been additionally imposed as a part of the contracts, which can run till September.
Operators had fought in opposition to the ban by providing additional laws, together with checking customers had been over 18 and fixing licence plates to scooters so police might establish site visitors offenders.
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Some Parisians stated they most popular tighter laws over an outright ban.
Social media influencers argued electrical scooters present a safer manner of travelling house late at evening within the absence of an evening service on the Paris metro.
Others spoke out in assist of the ban, claiming the scooters had been making Paris “a mess” with “the danger” and “visual pollution” they dropped at town’s streets.
Source: information.sky.com”