Accidents involving electric scooters on the rise

Ljubljana – Electric scooters are becoming increasingly popular as a mode of urban transportation, but accelerated uptake has resulted in a rise in accidents. Last year there were 109 accidents involving e-scooters, more than two-thirds caused by riders themselves, police data show.

Police started gathering data on electric scooter accidents in September 2019 and by April this year 193 have been recorded, of which more than half last year. In 122 cases riders did not use helmets.

This year, the first scooter fatality was reported, the Traffic Safety Agency said on Tuesday as it launched a week-long scooter safety campaign. There were also three severe injuries this year and 13 light injuries.

Scooters were not regulated until the middle of last year, when a new road safety act determined that they may be ridden only on bike paths or right side of the road when there are no bike paths. Their top speed may not exceed 50 km/h and helmets are mandatory until age 18.

Traffic Safety Agency director Jože Hribar said the majority of the accidents, more than 60%, involved children and minors. The most common infractions are speeding and violation of right-of-way rules.

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