‘It’s boorish’: E-scooter firms threaten to leave Italy after highway code
updated

Fear for jobs after parliament votes for helmets, insurance and big fines
for ‘wild’ riders and rogue parking, amid rise in traffic accidents

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Sat 23 Nov 2024 11.00 GMT

On a road by Rome’s traffic-clogged Piazza Venezia, an e-scooter rider
weaves through a crowd of pedestrians, who in turn are trying not to trip
over a scooter dumped on the pavement. At the adjacent crossing, two
e-scooter riders whiz through a red light as another glides around the
curve with his passenger capturing the journey on her mobile phone.

Such scenes have become common in the Italian capital and other towns and cities in recent years, amid the boom in popularity of rented e-scooters.
But now the government is getting tough on wayward use of the vehicles as
part of a broader overhaul of the highway code.

“No more wild scooters,”said transport minister Matteo Salvini last week after parliament gave approval to a bill requiring riders to wear helmets
and be insured. The vehicles will also have to have number plates, and
riders will be banned from pedestrianised streets, cycle lanes and
non-urban roads. On top of that, there will be stiff fines for rogue
parking.

As in other European countries, e-scooters have become a nifty, cheap and environmentally friendly mode of urban transport. But as uptake in Italy
has increased, so has the number of accidents. Injuries from road accidents involving e-scooters rose to 3,365 in 2023, with 21 deaths – up from 2,929 injuries and 16 deaths in 2022, according to Istat, the national statistics agency.

Full article at the link below:

<https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2024/nov/23/its-boorish-e-scooter-firms-threaten-to-leave-italy-after-highway-code-updated>

Thanks to Ottavio Caruso for posting the link in ulm


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