For this motorist from Dour, the electric scooter is not so much the problem. These are the users and the use that some make of it. The FPS Mobility does not mention the possibility of a permit for the moment.
“In less than a month, I avoided head-on collisions twice in a row”, loose immediately Justine. If this motorist contacted our editorial staff via the orange Alert us button, it is because she is barely recovering from several major scares. Twice, this resident of Dour says she narrowly missed colliding with electric scooters. She tells: “I was on a one-way street. The scooters were coming the other way. Luckily, I wasn’t really driving very fast. I was in zone 30 the first time and the second time I started. If I had been in a 50 or 70 zone, the shock would have been quite violent.” And to add: “It’s dangerous for them and for us. I looted right away. I was shocked. I braked with the handbrake, urgently.”
For Justine, the electric scooter is not so much the problem. These are the users and the use that some make of it: “I think it’s a great tool, if used properly. It’s a great transport tool. You just have to be careful. On the road, there are dangers, vehicles, mopeds , bicycles, etc.“The young woman wonders:”We do pass licenses for small motorcycles, why not electric scooters? (…) There should be either training or passing a theoretical license to have notions of the Highway Code. If we want to avoid as many accidents as possible, whether for motorists, for citizens and weak users, we have to make people aware of this.
Following the report, many accidents with this type of machine in our country, the federal government banned on July 1, 2022, the use of electric scooters for minors under 16 years of age. It is also forbidden since this date to travel in pairs on this type of machine and to use the sidewalks. And the latest figures listed are hardly encouraging:
Benoit Godart, spokesperson for VIAS, comments on the figures: “It’s constantly on the rise. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Alongside all the accidents recorded, there are falls. When people fall, they go to the hospital on their own, without telling the police, and therefore there is no trace in the accident statistics.” At Georges Gilkinet’s Mobility office, the question of obtaining a permit, as suggested by our alerter Justine, is not a topical issue.
It’s a behavioral problem more than a lack of knowledge of the rules.
The focus is on last summer’s legislation: “We will assess the effectiveness of these measures in due course. Such measures should make it possible to better regulate the use of scooters on the public highway and to sanction those who use it for purely recreational purposes. The question of ‘a specific license for scooters is by no means on the agenda“explains the minister’s office. Same story on the side of VIAS. The Institute for Road Safety believes that the establishment of a license seems little “realistic”. Benoit Godart, the spokesperson for VIAS elaborates: “We see in practice that most accidents are not due to a lack of knowledge of the rules. When an electric scooter rider runs a red light or rolls on the sidewalk, they know full well that they can’t do it. It is a problem of behavior more than ignorance of rules. If tomorrow, you force them to pass a permit, it will not change much.”