The use of electric scooters will be limited to conditions similar to those for bicycles in the future in Romania. An emergency decree was passed by the Ludovic Orban government before being ousted, eliminating the legal loophole for electric scooters, an increasingly popular method of transportation in Romania’s cities.
Since 2016, people using electric scooters were either the cause or the victims of almost two hundred accidents. Out of this total, 37 resulted in serious injuries, 156 involved only minor wounds, and one person died – this is how the new regulation was justified by Minister if Interior Marcel Vela. According to him, Romania is the eighth EU member state to regulate the use of the electric scooters, following Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, France and the Netherlands.
Per the new decree, two- or three-wheeled vehicles powered by an electric motor that can reach a speed of at least 6 kph with a maximum speed of no more than 25 kph qualify as electric scooters. The age limit for using these vehicles will be 14, and people can use them without any passengers only on public roads where cycling is allowed and where the speed limit is no more than 50 kph.
In areas where bicycle lanes exist, those on an electric scooter must drive their “vehicle” in that lane. In the future, it will be forbidden to use scooters on the sidewalks. Scooters also must be equipped with a lamp, and use of a helmet is mandatory up to the age of 16.
Title image: Electric scootering in Bucharest on a sidewalk, which will be forbidden from now on. (Photo: viator.com)
