2023-07-07 15:55:22
Electric scooters will be able to travel on roads on which the maximum speed allowed is less than 50 km/h, as well as on cycle paths.
This order amending the Highway Safety Code will come into force on July 20. The decree will be valid for three years.
Users must comply with the same road safety rules applicable to cyclists. For example, they will not be able to ride on sidewalks unless necessary.
This decree also includes other motorized personal transport devices (MPTAs), including unicycles and skateboards.
According to Minister Guilbault, it is necessary to experiment more widely with their use in respect of road safety, since the pilot projects do not make it possible to take the full measure of the use of electric scooters.
Illegal, but already present
Although currently illegal, electric scooters are a reality that is already present in the field, notes Magali Bebronne, director of programs at Vélo Québec.
Éducaloi also recalled on its website, last June, that even if electric scooters are more and more popular throughout Quebec, our current laws do not allow you to use them to travel on the road.
Guillaume Hergat, manager of the Noaio store in Montreal, which sells electric scooters in particular, affirms that the vast majority [de sa clientèle] was aware it was illegal, but tolerated [sur les voies publiques].
It’s never a good thing when we have a kind of legal vagueness that does not allow us to act, measure, regulate […]so to come and frame all that, it’s good news, believes Ms. Bebronne.
Alba Zuniga Ramos, spokesperson for the Official Opposition at Montreal City Hall for active mobility, is also pleased to learn that electric scooters and other micromobility devices have been authorized. […] This will put an end to the regulatory vagueness.
Last month, Ensemble Montréal launched a petition asking the Government of Quebec to authorize the circulation of these motorized vehicles in order to allow the city to regulate their use.
Some of the road safety rules that will apply to electric scooters:
Wear a protective helmet;
Be over 14 years old. The user must carry proof of identity with him;
Do not carry any passengers;
Signal with a wave of the arm or a flashing its intention to turn;
Do not use your cell phone and do not wear headphones;
Respect the road signs installed under the Highway Safety Code.
Any user who violates these rules will be liable to a fine of $200.
Cohabitation problems to foresee?
Magali Bebronne points out that this new authorization for scooters will require adaptations in terms of urban development. Cohabitation [sur les pistes cyclables] already makes people cringe between good old bikes, new forms of micromobility, electric-assisted bikes, etc., she explains.
“It will be a call for cities to really develop their network of cycle paths, which will perhaps even become active mobility paths, in a much broader sense. »
— A quote from Magali Bebronne, program director at Vélo Québec
According to her, widening the bike lanes, drawing inspiration from what was done for the REV Saint-Denis, will be essential to allow users of different speeds to live together more harmoniously and to carry out safe overtaking maneuvers.
We have some cycle paths that were built in the 80s, which are typically very narrow, often also bidirectional. This makes overtaking maneuvers more dangerous, she points out.
Electric scooters will soon be able to circulate on roads and cycle paths. Quebec modifies the Highway Safety Code to make them legal, but with several conditions. Report by Mathieu Prost.
A fresh start for self-service scooters
In the past, the ban on e-scooters has been subject to exceptions in various pilot projects that made self-service scooters available from operators Bird and Lime.
But the arrival of this means of transport in Montreal in 2019 did not go smoothly. After only one season, the City of Montreal had abandoned the project.
Illegal parking was the problem: in its report on the pilot project, the City of Montreal estimated that only 20% of the 700 scooters in circulation had parked in the prescribed places.
But Montreal will try the experiment once more this summer, during a pilot project limited to the territory of Parc Jean-Drapeau. This time, the City has imposed on the operator Bird the installation of a GPS on each scooter. According to officials, this measure will prevent vehicles from being locked outside authorized areas.
The City of Laval will have to modify its pilot project for the rental of self-service electric scooters, which was scheduled for June 2023, in order to comply with this new ministerial order. We are still aiming for a commissioning for this summer, assures Philippe Déry, the head of public affairs at the City of Laval, who might not give an exact date.
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