Following a tragic accident, Paris is threatening to ban electric scooters

Paris police on Saturday charged the murder of a nurse who hit a 32-year-old Italian living in Paris on an electric scooter this month. The nurse and another person who was her passenger fled the scene and were only captured ten days later. An Italian died from his injuries.

The death of a woman has revived the debate on the use of electric scooters in Paris, where at least three people, including an Italian, have died in accidents involving these vehicles since 2019.

In the French capital, around 15,000 electric scooters with a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour are available for rent. In Paris, only one person is allowed on one scooter and must ride bicycles. However, these rules are often violated.

“Either the situation will improve significantly and the scooters will find their place in the public space without causing problems, especially for pedestrians, or we are considering getting rid of them completely,” the deputy mayor of Paris said.

“Other cities have done so,” he added, citing New York, Barcelona and one of Paris’s suburbs as examples.

He revealed that he had invited representatives of three electric scooter operators, Lime, Dott and Tier, to a meeting, informing them of the many complaints received from citizens about scooters being left on the streets and sidewalks and the sense of insecurity they had. track.

Operator contracts with the City of Paris are valid until October 2022 and may not be extended, the deputy mayor said.

He said that from Wednesday, operators must ensure that the speed of scooters in certain areas of central Paris does not exceed ten kilometers per hour. Operators can equip the scooter with brakes that operate automatically when the scooter enters the “slow zone”.