US Nashville bans electric scooters in city after first fatality accident related to them.
The mayor of the city Nashville (Nashville) of Tennessee, USA, David Briley, shared in seven Companies scooters operating in the city, that it is ending the pilot program and banning electric scooters from the streets, according to a letter was posted on Twitter on Friday.
Στο μήνυμά του ο δήμαρχος αναφέρει: "Έχουμε δει το κόστος της δημόσιας ασφάλειας και της προσβασιμότητας που προκαλούν αυτές οι συσκευές και δεν είναι δίκαιο για τους κατοίκους μας να συνεχιστεί αυτό. Εάν αυτές οι συσκευές επιστρέψουν στο μέλλον, θα είναι μετά από μια δημόσια procedure, με τους όρους μας, με αυστηρή επίβλεψη για αριθμούς, ασφάλεια και προσβασιμότητα."
Mayor Briley had considered banning scooters and a month ago. But only when Nashville had its first scooter-related death did the mayor formally announce his plan to remove them completely from the city.
The accident happened in May 2019 and involved Brady Gaulke, 26, who was struck by a vehicle and killed while riding a scooter. Police determined that Gaulke had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit for cars and was responsible for the accident.
In Nashville, seven companies operated with a total of 4.000 scooters on the streets. According to information, Briley, in consultation with the Nashville City Council, plans to allow one or two companies to return by installing a much smaller number of scooters. The selected companies will compete through a process that will be supervised by the City Transport Licensing Committee, according to Tennessean.
From the moment they first appeared, at the end of 2017, electric scooters brought a lot of headaches to cities. The current officials of each city that hosts them, try to weigh the popularity of the devices, with the need for better regulation of their distribution framework.
Some cities have proposed overly burdensome rules for scooter companies, forcing them to decide whether to stay or leave. Uber withdrew the Jump scooters from San Antonio, Texas last week, after the city authorities cut them in half. In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo proposed new rules after the death of an electronic scooter rider on June 10, who was hit by a truck.
At Greece, luckily we haven't had any fatal accidents, but their lack of traffic rules and the almost total lack of bike lanes combined with the narrow sidewalks that are full of traps make accidents a matter of luck.
