The head of the public movement "For Safety" Dmitry Kurdesov proposed to oblige electric scooter drivers to use helmets and other protective ammunition while driving.

“I ask you to consider the possibility of regulating the safety requirements for the operation of electric scooters, namely, to oblige the owners of these vehicles to use protective helmets and ammunition (elbow pads, knee pads) while driving,” the appeal says.

The public figure noted that in recent years, electric scooters have become massively popular among Russians.

At the same time, the lack of clear safety requirements and rules for the operation of these vehicles causes a negative reaction from many pedestrians and motorists.

Moreover, the owners of electric scooters themselves often receive serious injuries and need emergency medical assistance as a result of road accidents.

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"Different scooters"

Experts were not so unambiguous about the initiative, pointing out that electric scooters have different characteristics: some are low-power vehicles, the power of others is commensurate with vehicles such as mopeds.

"It should not be about the fact that the drivers of any electric scooters should wear helmets, but only powerful devices that can accelerate over 20 km / h," Pyotr Shkumatov, head of the All-Russia People's Front Working Group "Protection of Motorists' Rights", told RT.

According to him, an electric scooter with an engine more powerful than 250 W is, in principle, wrong to call a scooter.

From the point of view of legislation, this is a moped, the expert emphasized.

He noted that there are rules and restrictions for driving a moped, including the use of a helmet.

“If the electric scooter is low-power, then such requirements for controlling the walking device are excessive,” summed up Shkumatov.

Member of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Construction Alexander Vasiliev, in turn, noted that electric scooters are means of individual mobility, with the help of which people can quickly move to the point they need.

“This is not a high-risk agent.

They should not be subject to any additional restrictions in the form of rights, protection and everything else.

People take an electric scooter to get to the bus or avoid it altogether.

In small towns, electric scooters are used so as not to get stuck in traffic jams.

This reduces the load on the roads, ”he said.

"Caution, electric scooter"

The use of electric scooters is dangerous not only for the drivers of these vehicles themselves, but also for outsiders.

At the same time, the perpetrators of accidents are far from always ready to bear responsibility.

So, in mid-May it became known that in the north-west of Moscow, while riding an electric scooter, a man knocked down an eight-year-old girl and fled the scene.

The child needed the help of doctors, and the police began to find out the identity of the offender.

On May 14, in St. Petersburg, two youths hit a pedestrian on a rented scooter and then beat him.

For the provision of services that did not meet safety requirements, a criminal case was initiated against the management of a company that leases electric scooters.

Vice-President of the Guild of Russian Lawyers Yevgeny Korchago, in an interview with RT, noted that the speed of electric scooters poses a danger to pedestrians, and a collision with such a device is tantamount to a collision with a motorcycle.

“If the driver of the electric scooter causes serious harm to health or his actions entail the death of a person, provided that the electric scooter is recognized as a vehicle, he will face liability in accordance with Art.

264 of the Criminal Code of Russia, ”the lawyer said.

This article provides for imprisonment for up to two years for causing grievous bodily harm, in the event of the death of the victim - up to five years.

At the same time, even if the driver of the scooter uses a low-power device and can be considered a pedestrian, he can still face administrative liability for non-observance of traffic rules.

Over the past year, Russia has repeatedly come forward with initiatives related to the need to introduce special traffic rules for users of electric scooters.

So, in mid-May, the head of the scientific center for road safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, police colonel Dmitry Mitroshin, speaking about the situation with possible changes in the rules for riding scooters and bicycles, said that the task of possible amendments to the legislation should be to create conditions that would be convenient to all road users.

At the same time, the regions are trying to solve this problem on their own.

So, at the beginning of the year it became known that in the Crimea, the movement of electric scooters and gyro scooters on the embankments of resort cities will be limited.