Rome, Dec. 16, (dpa/GNA) – A new law requiring the wearing of helmets on electric scooters is causing controversy in Italy as fines were issued for the first time over the weekend.
Anyone caught riding an e-scooter without a helmet now has to pay a €50 ($52.50) penalty. Many riders have complained that they had not been informed of this, especially foreign tourists, and the rental companies are worried about their business model.
The helmet requirement is one of a series of measures with which the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to reduce Italy’s 3,000 traffic deaths per year.
The fine for using a phone while driving has also been increased to a minimum of €250.
E-scooters, which are particularly common in tourist destinations, must now also have a licence plate. Helmets were previously only compulsory for minors.
The police stopped many e-scooter riders without head protection in Italy’s big cities over the weekend. This is said to have repeatedly led to lengthy discussions.
Italy’s Alliance for Sustainable Mobility, which brings together both consumers and companies, described the situation as “total chaos.”
Some rental companies have already declared it impossible to equip the scooters with helmets, with one operator asking, “Where should we attach it?”
There are more than 50,000 electric scooters in Italy. Last year, 21 people were killed in accidents involving them. Transport Minister Matteo Salvini sees the new regulations as a way to combat the “jungle on the roads.”
In other countries, e-scooters are a frequent source of annoyance when riders recklessly use pavements or fail to park them properly.
In Britain and the Netherlands, electric scooters are not allowed at all, and scooter rental is prohibited in Paris and Madrid.
GNA