France: Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

In France, Parisians on Sunday voted to ban rental electric scooters in the city. Official results showed that almost 90 per cent of votes cast favoured a ban the battery-powered devices. The referendum was called in response to a rising number of people being injured and killed on e-scooters in the French capital.Paris was a pioneer when it introduced e-scooters, in 2018 as the city’s authorities sought to promote non-polluting forms of urban transport. Last Year, three people died and 459 were injured in e-scooter accidents in Paris.
However, operators of the e-scooters argued the vehicles made up a small proportion of overall traffic accidents in the city. Paris has almost 15,000 e-scooters across its streets, operated by companies. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called the referendum, where voters could say if they were for or against free-floating e-scooters. Privately-owned vehicles were not part of the vote.The pro-cycling Socialist leader supported a ban and announced the vote in January to allow the people to decide. Meanwhile, dumped scooters had also become a significant problem in Paris, with many being found in the city's parks and squares.A ban on parking the dockless scooters on pavements largely went unheeded despite the threat of a €35 fine.