A month before the referendum on the banning of scooters in Paris, the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune explains in the JDD that he prefers to “regulate” their use.
Minimum age at 14 or 16, identification number, turn signals, reinforced controls but no obligation to wear a helmet: the Minister of Transport unveiled Sunday in the JDD its national plan to regulate the use of electric scooters, one month before the referendum in Paris on their ban. By presenting this plan, Clément Beaune firmly takes the opposite view of the vote organized on April 2 by the Mayor of Paris.
“Anne Hidalgo wants to ban scooters without assuming it, so she organizes a referendum without a campaign and without contradictory opinions being able to be expressed“, lambasted the minister in Le Journal du Dimanche, seeing there”an admission of failure and weakness“.
Strengthened national framework
“I will go and vote as a citizen and as an elected representative of Paris. You understand how…“, he added. Conversely, Clément Beaune intends to remain “in the spirit of the 2019 mobility law, which left cities maximum regulation“, while offering to help them with a”strengthened national framework“. Concretely, he would like the minimum age – currently 12 – to be raised toat least 14 or 16 years old», with the generalization of verification devices. “It is imperative to avoid dramas involving young teenagers“, he underlined.
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“Then, all self-service scooters need a visible identification number: this will facilitate and reinforce checks“, detailed Clément Beaune, also advocating the obligation of turn signals. “To put an end to the piles of abandoned scooters, most communities have set up compulsory parking spaces: operators must imperatively generalize the double stand and increase patrols“said the minister.
“The laxity has lasted too long”
Citing the example of Lyon, Clément Beaune finally pleaded for the ecological requirement of a “longer battery life and a recycling obligation in France“. “The State will put the sword in the loins of the operators, because the laxity has now lasted too long“, explained the minister. On the other hand, he does not retain the obligation of the helmet: “because for an obligation to be effective, it must be able to be controlled and this would concern an immense number of cases“.
“If you do it for the scooter, consistency demands that you do it for the bike“, further argued the minister, who does not want to discourage the expansion of the number of users of these alternatives to the car. Clément Beaune also says he is ready to “toughen up fines»against those who drive two (currently 35 euros). “It is forbidden and it is the cause of one in five serious accidents“, he underlined.