I will not seek to take any credit for having probably been the first – only a couple of weeks ago in this very same space – to call for action on the issue of e-scooters on our roads, but it is good to know that the authorities have taken the initiative of regulating them before some nasty accidents start happening. The launching of a public consultation on these regulations is part of the timely action required and contrasting views have already been doing the rounds in our media.
While, admittedly, it is important to promote the concept of modality and the use of alternative and sustainable means of transport in a car-infested island, the next step – once the consultation process is over – is to assert law enforcement. Rules and regulations mean nothing without adequate and efficient monitoring by the Police, traffic wardens and local council officials.
In the UK alone, 1,600 incidents involving e-scooters, hoverboards and segways have been reported since 2018. In Vienna, there have been more than 200 accidents since the introduction of the e-scooter last October. The Spanish authorities were even more drastic: they banned them after a 90-year-old pedestrian was killed when he was hit by one.
It is why there is a growing global backlash as the authorities everywhere grapple with the issue of – pun galore for those who enjoy it – how to put the breaks on a mobile trend that is rapidly wheeling out of control.
E-scooterists are already an everyday feature on pavements and pedestrian zones in places like the Sliema waterfront right up to St Julian’s and other spots popular with the young – both local and foreign. I have personally seen them whoosh past people and going the wrong-way up and down the narrow streets, their noiseless traverse shocking pedestrians trying to navigate past parked cars, urinating dogs on extending leashes and stinking waste bags.