Amendments to traffic rules have made electric scooters outcasts on the roads
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From March 1, amendments to the Rules of the Road come into force, including the long-awaited regulation for the movement of electric scooters and other means of individual mobility (SIM). Now these are officially vehicles, and the most “discriminated” in the Rules. Electric scooters are not only forced to yield to everyone on the sidewalks, but are also undesirable on the roadway. And it seems that one of the goals of such a regulation is to force “uncontrolled” private electric scooters off the streets.
In total, work on the traffic rules for electric scooters has been carried out since the dock-like 2019 – then the need for this was first felt in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Indeed: this format of wheeled vehicles was specifically designed as a “non-vehicle-vehicle”, relieving their riders of the status of a driver.
Accidents, including those with victims, did not slow down: it turned out to be most convenient to move on electric scooters along the sidewalks. A pedestrian who does not see the rider takes a step to the side, the speed is high – and here you have bodily injuries of severity “how lucky.” So, the new version of the traffic rules promises to be an important step towards minimizing such accidents.
“From March 1, drivers of individual mobility devices are a separate category of road users, which entails certain regulations,” notes Vladimir Lugovenko, director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Automobile and Urban Passenger Transport of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation.
The first problem that the authors of the amendments solved was to eliminate conflicts with pedestrians. Eliminate in the legal sense: not “make it impossible”, but “immediately understand who is to blame, in which case”. According to Lugovenko, on the pedestrian infrastructure, a pedestrian is always right in the event of an accident with an electric scooter.
“If a person using a SIM interferes with the movement of pedestrians, he must either dismount or move at a walking pace,” Lugovenko stressed. — This is the main novelty of these amendments. Now scooters often honk, behave immodestly on the sidewalks. But you need to understand that they are guests on the pedestrian infrastructure.
Age tolerances were taken from the rules for cyclists, as was the absence of the need to obtain a driver’s license. Tolerances are as follows: children under 7 years old can only move along pedestrian zones and accompanied by adults; from 7 to 14 years old – on the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure unaccompanied by adults; upon reaching the age of 14 – and on the roadway.
But SIM drivers of any age – even with 20 years of driving a car or a motorcycle – are also guests on the carriageway of public roads, and unwanted ones at that. The new traffic rules imply that you can ride on the roadway on an electric scooter (or, say, a unicycle) only at the right edge and at a speed of no more than 60 km/h.
“I’ll tell you a secret: when this provision was discussed, there was a categorical wish on the part of the traffic organizers not to allow SIM cards on the roadway,” Lugovenko said. According to him, they still had to be allowed: not everywhere there are bike paths and sidewalks. But the speed and location were limited: the wheels of electric scooters are of small diameter, even a small hole is enough to “throw” under a moving truck…
But the most powerful of the electric scooters – those that have at least 250 W in their passports and are equipped with headlights, lights, brakes and everything necessary for category M – can be considered mopeds. As the authors of the amendments promise, an electric scooter of sufficient power can be recognized as a moped through an examination; and then it will be possible to drive faster and in all lanes.
How the new traffic rules work in relation to SIM – we will find out in the near future, and, perhaps, the traffic police will soon make changes. “SDA is a living document, let’s see how these amendments will work,” said Dmitry Mitroshin, head of the Scientific Center for Road Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
According to him, although driving licenses are not expected for SIMs, driving an electric scooter while intoxicated is not allowed. Mitroshin recalled that the police can conduct a medical examination for the state of intoxication of any citizens, even pedestrians; which means that SIM drivers may also be affected by this procedure, especially if they violate public order or become participants in an accident.
We add that from March 1, the entire fleet of Russian electric scooters (and in 2022 alone, about 230 thousand SIMs were sold in Russia, 85% of which are electric scooters) is de facto divided into two groups. The first is private devices, the observance of which is controlled by the owners-drivers. The second is rental electric scooters (kicksharing), where all the restrictions are “flashed” by the operator. The kicksharing park today consists of 200,000 scooters from forty operators in 190 cities across the country.
Under the current circumstances, sharing is better, said Ksenia Erdman, director of the Association of Micromobility Operators. First, private scooters are much harder to track. Secondly, kicksharing better solves the problem of “mobility integration” posed at the highest level in Russia. Recall that we are talking about the concept of “mobility as a service”, beloved by urbanists, which implies the variability of ways to get from point A to point B using your own legs, public transport, bicycles and SIM, cars.
Obviously, rental cars, bikes and electric scooters fit into this model much better. And it’s not so difficult to arrange an “easy life” for owners of uncontrolled personal electric scooters. A few years ago, all scooters were forced out into remote villages. So your own scooters can go the same way.
Newspaper headline:
Sim among strangers
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