Norway’s Center Party wants to ban electric scooters from the sidewalks

Electric scootersPhoto: Vidar Ruud / NTB

The Center Party’s (SP) Jan Bøhler believes the new electric scooter law does not go far enough. He wants to completely remove electric scooters from the sidewalks.

“We must ban driving on sidewalks to end the chaos in the city, avoid accidents, and give pedestrians their security back,” the SP’s parliamentary representative Jan Bøhler told NTB.

On Monday, a parliamentary majority consisting of the Socialist Left Party (SV), the Center Party (SP), the Conservatives (H), the Labor Party (AP), and the Christian Democrats (KrF) presented a joint bill that gives the municipalities more power to regulate the electric scooter rental industry. The law will probably enter into force in June.

Bøhler thinks the bill is fine but believes the next step must be for electric scooters to be classified as motor vehicles instead of bicycles in cities.

“Such a classification will mean that it would be forbidden to drive in places such as sidewalks and walkways,” he said.

In favor of stricter rules

The Center Party supports the new law on the municipalities’ regulatory options but has also submitted a separate proposal for classification, which will be up for a vote in the Norwegian parliament (Storting) on June 1.

“This does not only apply to rental electric scooters. Private electric scooters without a speed limit of 20 kilometers per hour are a growing and dangerous problem,” Bøhler noted.

The new electric scooter law gives the municipalities the right to create zones on public land where the rental scooters must be deployed and parked. The municipalities are also given the opportunity to introduce speed limits in certain areas.

This comes on top of new traffic rules for electric scooters that the government introduced at the end of April, which, among other things, regulate speed, parking, and the number of people on scooters.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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1 Comment on "Norway’s Center Party wants to ban electric scooters from the sidewalks"

  1. The common person: I am having fun. The best time ever.

    Government: Pfft, cannot have this. No one must be happy. Remove privileges asap!

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