Electric scooters | Liikenneturva lists: Weight limit for scooters and five other ways to improve the safety of electric scooters

Weight limits electric scooters and other technical solutions could prevent dangerous accidents, says Liikenneturva’s training instructor Pasi Pohjonen.

They could even be more effective than the age limits set for drivers of electric scooters, Pohjonen stated when Helsingin Sanomat asked what means could be used to prevent dangerous accidents.

Electric scooters have become a deadly problem in traffic. They seem to be particularly dangerous in the hands of minors.

In August the third fatal electric scooter accident of the summer happened in the capital region, when two electric scooter riders collided in Leppävaara, Espoo. An adult man died, the collision was a minor.

In June, a 14-year-old boy from Värnkää fell on an electric scooter in Kaivopuisto and later died from his injuries.

In June, in Vantaa’s Myyrmäki, three girls riding an electric scooter collided with a car at a crosswalk. A 12-year-old girl died, two other girls were injured.

Means accident prevention should be considered now that the prime minister Petteri Orpon (kok) the government is to develop new legislation regarding electric scooters in accordance with its program.

There has been discussion, among other things, about whether electric scooters would come completely prohibits minors.

According to Pohjonen, Liikenneturva has no position on what the age limit should be. He reminds that there is no age limit for riding a bicycle either, and in legislation, electric scooters are often equated with bicycles.

Instead, Pohjonen lists six ways in which the safety of electric kickboarding could be improved:

1. Regulation. Municipalities should be given the right to regulate the use of electric scooters locally. They could, for example, impose restrictions on how many rental electric scooters can be brought into the territory of the municipality or city and where they can be parked.

2. Permit procedure and bidding process. Renting electric scooters could be made a permit-based activity, in which case municipalities and cities could include a wide range of conditions in the permits. Municipalities and cities could also tender electric scooter companies, in which case certain rules of the game could be imposed on them.

3. Weight limit. One of the conditions imposed on rental companies could be the weight limit of electric scooters, which is possible to implement with current technology. In terms of safety, a big problem is that there are often 2-3, even four people on one electric scooter. This could be prevented with a weight limit: If there was too much load on the board, it would no longer start moving.

4. Movement limits. With advanced technology, the use of electric scooters can also be limited in such a way that they would stop working, for example, on certain sections of road with heavy traffic.

5. Speed ​​limits. Modern technology can also limit the speed of electric scooters. However, there are private electric scooters that are a problem easy to tune to travel at very high speeds.

6. Helmet. It would be very worthwhile if electric scooter riders were obliged to wear a helmet. In crashes with two-wheeled vehicles, the impact often hits the head, and a helmet effectively protects against head injuries.