Transport Infrastructure Ireland reveals that the lack of rules and regulations on the usage of electric scooters will bring about challenges for policymakers in the country. The state body in charge of the national road network demands that e-scooters should be registered and insured for any type of use on public roads. Across Europe, there are more than 20 million escooters in use. In the last year alone, Paris and Berlin increased their numbers of escooters.
A senior engineer in TII’s road safety section, Dr. Suzanne Meade mentioned to Newstalk Breakfast about their hopes for e-mobility sharing schemes before they are introduced. Note that, transport policymakers have been surprised by the sudden uptick of escooters/e-mobility. That can be attributed to the numerous share and rental schemes across Europe. Actually, escooters are a great and new part of the transport industry. They are likely going to reduce congestion and pollution.
According to Dr. Meade, there are some major challenges that have come up because of the introduction of escooters. For instance, there are some positive benefits such as reducing car use and public transport use. However, to harness these benefits, the environment needs to be safe. Actually, they expect a lot of safety challenges in the future especially if there are no rules and regulations in place on how to use escooters, both for the user and the other road users.
Currently, there is a bill in Ireland that is about the approval that will amend the illegality of using escooters on a public road. Transport Infrastructure Ireland has gone through this bill thoroughly and has made the necessary recommendations to the Department Of Transport. They examined whether or not it is appropriate for escooters to be used on footpaths and the best type of road they should be used in, for that matter.
Note that, they also analyzed the speed limits for escooters with most of them reaching 40kph. TII also discussed the right age limits for escooter users noting that most of the younger people might not be aware of the rules of the road. Yes, escooters are a new innovation bound to change how we commute. However, they need to be regulated to avoid accidents too. If possible, the transport industry should set rules to mitigate any serious accidents.
