Paris Announced That Scooters Should Only Run 10KM Per Hour Following Several Pedestrian Injuries

Paris has a new speed limit for the scooters roaming around the city. The city announced that all scooter sharing services should restrict the speed to a maximum of 10 kilometers per hour, or 6.2 miles per hour. The decision comes after a number of injuries that involved a scooter.

Paris' New Scooter Restriction

Paris has been a very important market for scooter services. The city is dense and has several bike lanes. There are also several tourists that are looking for ways to easily explore the city, according to TechCrunch.

Because of those reasons, the situation used to be out of control. Around 16 different scooters began operating a fleet of scooters in the city.

Paris selected three companies and implemented a set of rules. Lime, Dott, and Tier won two years to operate shared electric scooters.

Since then, things have been going well for the three selected companies. Just this year, Dott raised $85 million in equity and asset.

Tier was able to raise $200 million equity. Lime raised $523 million in debt and term loan financing. However, scooters became a public safety issue for many riders and those who are walking on the street.

According to BBC, just this year, around 298 accidents were reported, 329 people have been severely injured, and two people died.

The relationship between Paris and the scooter companies never went back to normal after a pedestrian passed away last year due to a scooter accident, according to France 24.

In July, Paris listed a couple of areas with a high density of pedestrians, like the Palais Royal and Tuileries or the Bastille and Republique squares. Scooter sharing companies all agreed to limit the speed to 10 kilometers per hour in the listed areas.

In September, Paris asked each administration to list areas where the top speed of scooters should be limited to 10 kilometers per hour. This resulted in a total of 700 slow zones around the city. Scooter startups all agreed to implement those zones in their service.

However, the city of Paris wants to go further than that. The city is now considered a slow zone for scooter companies.

However, a couple of streets are exempted because they have wide lanes for bikes, micromobility vehicles, and scooters. If you have your own scooter, the restrictions won't apply to your device.

In 2019, a study by Injury Prevention Research stated that e-scooters are much more dangerous compared to traditional bikes.

Despite this, New York City legalized e-bikes and e-scooters in 2020.

The new restrictions for scooters in Paris will be implemented in 2022. Tier, Dott, and Lime will keep their permits until February 2023.

Regulating Mopeds

The city of Paris is also going to regulate electric mopeds. The five companies operating in Paris are Cooltra, Cityscoot, Lime, Troopy, and Yego. Other companies are working on launching their services in the city.

Paris wants to regulate mopeds with permits. It will work like a scooter permit, except that the licenses will last five years.

Only three companies will be allowed to operate mopeds in the city, and the new system will be implemented in September 2022.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sophie Webster