Paris (AFP)

What happens to a self-service electric scooter user if it causes an accident? At a time when this mode of transport is booming, especially in Paris, the issue of user insurance remains unclear.

In just 18 months, it was a real invasion that occurred: a dozen companies filled the streets of the capital and other cities in the region with their electric scooters in "free-floating" is ie unlimited self-service.

At first a little overwhelmed by the success of this new mode of transport, featured this week at the Autonomy show in Paris, the authorities have tried to frame practices.

A government decree is expected in the coming days to settle the question of these motorized vehicles that do not belong today to any category of the highway code.

On the program: no passengers, speed limited to 25 km / h, no driving on sidewalks ...

If the scooter becomes a land motor vehicle, then it will necessarily be subject to the same insurance rules as a car or a scooter.

In France, the owner of this kind of vehicle is obliged to insure him at least with a civil responsibility allowing him to cover the damages inflicted to a third party during an accident.

"At present, operators have chosen to bring the responsibility to the user, but in French law it is well specified that the owner of a land motor vehicle has the obligation to ensure", explains to AFP Clarisse Coste Palacios, president of the insurance firm Mob-In.

"This is a major issue, and at the moment, an electric scooter user who has an accident could turn against the operator, but that assumes a long legal battle," she says.

- Culture shock -

This blur allows for the time being the main operators to adopt different strategies.

The European Dott is a good student: its terms of use clearly mention the insurance policy used, liability coverage on personal injury and property.

This is less evident in the other two major US players in the sector, Bird and Lime.

"We have a partnership with Axa, all our users are covered in the event of an accident, including in the event of a responsible accident.Our users, the users of the public space and our equipment are covered," says AFP Driss Ibenmansour, managing director of Bird France.

The general conditions of use of Bird indicate for the moment quite another thing.

"To determine if you have coverage, you need to consult with your car insurance company or insurance broker," reads the document that will be "updated soon," according to Bird.

Same story at Lime, the market leader in Paris, where the word "insurance" does not even appear in the conditions of use.

"When you rent a Lime scooter, you automatically have free general civil insurance and third-party civil insurance, in case of an accident, just contact the customer service who will start the process to put you in touch with the insurance. ", says Arthur-Louis Jacquier, the director general of the French branch of the company.

"It is inadmissible, as long as it is not written in the conditions, it means that you are not insured," says Joan Jehanne Collard, lawyer of victims of the road.

"It's the shock of two cultures between Americans and Europeans In the United States, I rent a car, it's up to me whether I want to make sure or not, in France it is included", says Henri Moissinac, founder of Dott.

The city of Paris must launch in the coming weeks a call for tenders, to limit access to the market to a handful of operators.

A step that has already crossed Marseille who has retained Bird, Circ and Voï, to the detriment of Lime.

Will the question of compulsory insurance be included in the criteria program? Asked by AFP, the Paris City Council ensures that it wishes to incorporate it into the specifications of the future call for tenders.

Several accidents involving electric scooters have been reported in recent months.

Last April, an octogenarian had died in Levallois-Perret, hit by a scooter driver who had burned a red light.

The latter faces a five-year prison sentence and a fine of € 75,000 for "manslaughter with deliberate violation of a safety or security obligation".

© 2019 AFP