the essential
During this Wednesday’s city council, Toulouse town hall asked the government to make the registration of electric scooters compulsory to facilitate the reporting of speeding and driving on the sidewalk.
After the recent adoption of a street code, in particular to try to pacify relations between pedestrians and cyclists in the streets of Toulouse, the town hall wants to “empower”, in the words of Maxime Boyer, the drivers of electric scooters. “During discussions on the street code, respect for the rules for scooters came up regularly,” explains the deputy mayor in charge of mobility who is thinking of speeding and driving on sidewalks which is prohibited .
To date, according to national regulations, to ride an electric scooter, you must be 14 years old, have civil security insurance and obey the same priority rules as vehicles. The law also provides that it is prohibited to drive on sidewalks. The scooter must be on the roadway or on cycling facilities where available.
A mandatory plate
But in the event of non-compliance with the rules, the elected official emphasizes, it is impossible to fine the driver except by arresting him in the act. This is why this Wednesday, during the municipal council, the majority proposed to the elected officials to vote on a wish addressed to the government to request that scooters be provided with a license plate. “This will allow municipal police officers and agents during video verbalization operations to know who the owner is,” emphasizes Maxime Boyer who hopes to make cohabitation more respectful.
Toulouse elected officials are also asking to make machine insurance compulsory and to strengthen motorization controls. The wish, which was debated at the end of the session, around time, was adopted. Only elected officials from the municipalist group (citizens and rebels) abstained.
In Toulouse, rental scooter fleets were banned a few years ago. “We were the first large city to do so,” emphasizes Maxime Boyer.
