We are increasingly learning about children in hospital after accidents with electric scooters. We know that there are no particularly clear rules for owners and those who use the scooters, and the fines are between 10 and 50 leva if they move outside the designated areas.
After the recent cases of children in serious condition, several more municipalities have introduced bans - no bicycles and scooters on the sidewalks and in pedestrian zones.
„Scooters are primarily an ecological and convenient way for Bulgarian citizens to move around in urban conditions. Scooters have regulations. We participated fully in the dialogue and adoption of the law. There is a law and it must be followed”, commented Vladislav Stoitsov from the Bulgarian Electromobility Association. He appealed to parents – to protect their children.
All scooters, when sold, are limited to 25 km/h. However, their limiters can be removed. Owners ignore the law.
There is an idea for a register of electric scooters.
According to Vladislav Stoitsov, any kind of regulations will slow down the introduction of this environmentally friendly transport.
„About 6 years ago, the Road Traffic Act provided for regulations for individual electric vehicles. However, back then, there were no such powerful electric scooters – "there were only one type, one brand, which reached 20-25 km/h," said lawyer Silvia Petkova.
She explained that there is a ban on scooters moving through pedestrian zones, traffic for them is free on bicycle infrastructures, but if there are none, their drivers must move on the far right of the road.
„Only later did powerful electric scooters enter, which can structurally reach up to 80 km/h“, the lawyer pointed out.
There is no longer any control and no sanction provided for these rules. There are gaps in the law.