Considering the “dangers” that rental e-scooters pose, Parisians have decided to outlaw the ‘nuisance’ of these vehicles.
In a “rare public consultation,” 89% of voters rejected letting the 15,000 electric scooters owned by Lime, Tier, and Dott roam about the French city.
At the polls, voters referred to the cars as “accident-prone” and expressed worry over how frequently they were engaged in collisions.
Electric scooters caused 3 fatalities and 459 injuries in Paris last year, a 42% increase from 2020.
One man even claimed he ‘almost lost his baby’ after a scooter hit his child.
He said: ‘From personal experience, my seven-week-old baby who was being carried by his mother on an enclosed passageway was hit in the middle of the road by a scooter which was going the wrong way.
‘We almost lost our baby.
‘So after this as a citizen and as a volunteer we wanted to raise awareness.’
Deputy mayor David Belliard, a green party politician in charge of transport in Paris, campaigned against renewing the licences of the scooter operators.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘The scooters clutter out streets. They are stored on sidewalks, are poorly parked despite the dedicated spaces, they are dangerous obstacles, especially for seniors and people with reduced mobility.
‘Let’s focus our efforts instead on more accessible forms of mobility that produce less nuisance and danger.’
He also doubted whether the scooters have ecological advantages, as un-recyclable lithium batteries have just a short life span.
In June last year Linda Davis was the first pedestrian in the UK killed by an e-scooter after being hit by a 14-year-old boy.
A 31-year-old Italian woman was killed after being hit by an e-scooter carrying two people in 2021.
She fell and hit her head on the pavement, suffering a cardiac arrest.
The rental e-scooters must be removed from Paris’s streets by September 1, according to Mr Belliard.
However the scooter operators have said their younger clientele were unaware of the ballot.
Nearly 90% of the electorate in the city also chose not to vote at all.
In 2020, the city cut down the number of e-scooter operators to three following complaints of their disorganised deployment.
They required the scooters’ speed be capped at around 20km per hour, and imposed designated parking areas.
In a bid to keep running, operators promised tighter safety regulations, including ID checks to make sure all riders were over 18, and fixed license plates so police can identify traffic offenders.