As anyone who lives in pretty much any city will already know, e-scooters have become a huge thing in the past few years. From private scooters to scooter-sharing apps, the two-wheeled form of motorised personal transport are very in at the mo.
E-scooters are also, however, pretty divisive. To some, they’re affordable and supremely convenient; to others, they’re unsightly and dangerous. And now one major city could be set to ban them completely. Paris has announced it will have a public referendum to decide whether the scooters should be allowed on the French capital’s streets.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that the vote will take place on April 2, with Hidalgo herself backing the banning of e-scooters from Paris’ streets. She cites issues with safety and parking as her main concerns – and that’s despite the scooters getting much more heavily regulated since they were first introduced. In Paris, there are only three e-scooter providers and they’re subject to strict speed limits and parking restrictions.
Paris isn’t the only city looking to limit e-scooters. In the UK e-scooters are technically illegal in all public places. Current sharing app schemes are just trials, while any private scooters are breaking the law. Other cities have imposed tighter restrictions on the scooters, from low speed limits to enforcing helmet-wearing.
As for whether Paris will ban e-scooters? Well, now that’s up to Parisians. We’ll find out sometime after April 2!
Did you see that Mexico is the latest destination to completely ban smoking in public?
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