‘Danger’ E-scooters set for the green light ... but only at 16mph
ELECTRIC scooters are likely to be legalised for road use despite fears over their safety.
The 30mph vehicles, which look similar to a child’s scooter, can only be used on private land.
But sales have rocketed and hundreds of people have been caught illegally riding them on public roads.
Now the Department for Transport has said it will review regulations amid fears people will continue to flout the law.
It comes after 35-year- old Emily Hartridge was killed by a lorry while riding an escooter in Battersea, southwest London, last July.
The DfT says it is currently an offence to use them on roads because they do not comply with motorised vehicle requirements such as insurance, tax and driver testing. However, according to the Times, ministers are expected to legalise them as long as they come with inbuilt speed limits of 16mph, brake lights and reflectors.
They are proposing to treat them like bikes, meaning riding on the pavement would be prohibited.
A consultation is due to be held next month. A DfT spokesman said: ‘ We are actively examining how they can be regulated for safe use on the road, in order to encourage innovative new forms of transport.’
E- scooters, pictured right, cost between £200 and £500.
They are increasingly being used for short trips in a number of European and US cities. According to a UK poll, 60 per cent of 18 to 24year- olds would like to see them legalised.
But critics warn they have caused problems across Europe, particularly in Paris where residents claim they litter scenic footpaths.
The city’s mayor Anne Hidalgo recently said it was time to end the vehicles’ ‘ anarchic’ increase in the French capital where numbers are expected to reach 40,000 next year.
Germany has also seen a series of accidents since escooters became legal on roads in the summer.
About 10,000 scooters have been rented across German cities and even more citizens have bought their own.
In Munich, which has 4,000 rental scooters, police caught 98 drunk riders in the first four weeks of testing them.
‘Anarchic increase’