‘Owners must realise their responsibility on the road’: Russia to tighten control over electric scooters

Tightening control

Russia is developing a bill on the digital accounting of electric scooters. The bill may be submitted to the lower house of parliament already in the autumn session. Pavel Fedyaev, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Transport Infrastructure Development, told Izvestia about this.

According to him, special identification numbers will be produced in the format of DataMatrix codes, which buyers will have to register in a special system. It will track the personal transporter exceeding the speed limit and bring their owners to justice, the deputies believe.

Besides, as the chairman of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, stated on his social networks, the State Duma will consider a bill on the establishment of high fines for violations of the rules for the use of electric scooters and other personal transporters.

So, the lower house wants to set fines for the following violations:

• speeding;

• improper movement on the roadway, footpaths, sidewalks and pedestrian areas;

• for leaving the scene of an accident;

• driving under the influence of alcohol or refusing to undergo a medical examination.

The adoption of this bill is expected to reduce the number of accidents involving personal transporter drivers, as well as ensure the safety of citizens. Vyacheslav Volodin also added that this year the number of accidents involving personal transporter drivers has increased 2.5 times compared to last year. He added that since last year there have been traffic regulations for this transport, but there is no responsibility for violating these rules.

At the end of May, personal transporter drivers were also fined by operators of short-term rental services for electric scooters, such as Whoosh, MTS Urent and Yandex. Organisations have increased the amount of fines for various violations, namely for transferring control of the personal transporter to a child, travelling with a passenger, undismounting at a pedestrian crossing, and incorrect parking.

“It's time to deal with private scooters”

First of all, the bills will affect private electric scooters, since personal transporter drivers are already being monitored in kick sharing services. Denis Balakirev, the representative of the Whoosh press service, expressed this opinion in a conversation with Realnoe Vremya.

In general, Balakirev positively evaluates the initiative to tighten control over scooters. According to him, this “helps to bring even more order in relation to the personal transporter”:

“The initiative shows the general direction of development of electric scooters. They are already part of the urban transport system and play an important role. Perhaps, it's time to deal with private scooters, to define clear rules regarding them. The owners should realise their responsibility on the road," he stressed.