"Nowhere to escape." Electric screens against pedestrians

The Ministry of Transport of Russia and the traffic police prepare the next version of the amendments to the rules of the road relating to electric scooters, monocoles and segway. This year, in different cities of the country, there were hundreds of accidents on the sidewalks due to electric vehicles.

For seven months of 2021, 266 accidents involving electric scooters occurred in Russia, which is 66% more than in the same period of 2020. Such data are given by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The organization "Union of Pedestrians" believes that the figures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are even lower than real ones, since clashes on the sidewalks do not fall into the statistics of the traffic police. Meanwhile, in 2021, 9 people died in such accidents, 4 of them were pedestrians and 5 - the drivers themselves.

In the summer of 2021, the 80-year-old scientist Ivan Pigarev died in Moscow after the electric scooter strike; A 10-year-old boy in the Tver region died after a collision with a car, crossing the road on a scooter; A 47-year-old resident of St. Petersburg died in a hospital after falling from an electric scooter in the walking area of Krestovsky Island.

A resident of Petrozavodsk Marina Sibirtseva was walking with her husband and two children on the foot of the Onega Embankment on July 4, when a man on an electric scooter crashed in her 6-year-old son Artem.

- Five young people flew at high speed, looped between pedestrians, four drove past us, and one of them flew into my child. Both fell to the ground. The son hit his head on the asphalt. We called an ambulance, the police. Since there were a lot of people, that man was quickly stopped. He began to make excuses that he had to give the scooter, in the end he left, promised to return, but disappeared, - recalls Marina. - The child was in shock. At first I did not understand what was happening, then he had a tantrum, we sat for a long time, I reassured him. On the ambulance, we went to the republican hospital, took pictures. He had a large hematoma, but there was no internal damage. Even now, after a while, he cannot walk calmly on pedestrian paths, constantly looking back.

Later, the scooter was detained by the police. It turned out to be a 22-year-old foreign worker. He was fined 2 thousand rubles for work in Russia without a patent and accused of "leaving the place of accidents and driving a vehicle without rights." The final decision on his guilt will be made by the court, the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.

After the incident, the authorities of Petrozavodsk announced the withdrawal of electric scooters from the pedestrian embankment, but, according to Marina Sibirtseva, nothing changed. Even though in parallel to the sidewalk on the embankment, a bicycle path is built, which scooters rarely use.

The law is not written

Electric screens do not have a legal status in Russia. Their users are attributed to pedestrians, such as owners of skateboards, bicycles and roller skates. Experts believe that the movement of scooters in Russia must be regulated at the legislative level. Amendments to the SDA (traffic rules) are preparing the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation on behalf of the Investigative Committee, scooters are planned to be allocated in a separate category - "means of personal mobility". Devices without a steering wheel - gyro scooters and monocoles - will oblige to move along the sidewalks. Electric scooters and segvets will be allowed to move along bike paths, the edge of the carriageway and sidewalks at a speed of up to 25 km/h. The minimum age of the driver is 14 years, the maximum weight of transport is 35 kilograms.

The safety of a pedestrian in the hands of a person who can be drunk

- We dispute this decision. The opinions of experts dispersed, ”said Vladimir Sokolov, head of the“ Pedestrian Union ”, the head of the“ Pedestrian Union ”. - As we see this: the vehicle is a bicycle. And if with the engine, this is a mechanical vehicle, that is, a car or moped. He needs rights. In our GOST, the width of the sidewalks is 1 meter 40 cm. Imagine that two vehicles are moving in this space without markings and directions, and there is a pedestrian between them, and what to do? He needs to jump out of this space, and he has nowhere to escape. It turns out that the safety of a pedestrian in the hands of a person who can be drunk does not know how to manage an individual mobility, which is actually a mechanical vehicle.

The television program "Main Road" in May 2021 held a crash test with electric scooters. In a collision with a person at a speed of 20 km/h, the probability of death was 90%. At the proposal of the "Union of Pedestrians", electric scapers should appear on the sidewalks only if the permitted speed on the road is 90 km/h. In this case, he must go along the pedestrian path at the speed of a walking person.

- France in July forbade even this. They were allowed to move on an electric scooter with a pedestrian speed along the sidewalks, and statistics showed that this does not guarantee safety. There is allowed movement along the edge of the roadway on the roads, where the speed of 50 km/h. And there is no question of gyro scooters, segvets and monocoles. Vehicles without a steering wheel and brakes are prohibited for use where cars drive and a pedestrian moves, ”says Sokolov.

On average, the electric boiler weighs 20 kg and accelerates to 30 km/h. The power of the device is not inferior to mopeds, for the management of which category "M" and the obligatory receipt of a driver’s license are introduced in Russia. Sokolov believes that the rules proposed by the Ministry of Transport create a danger not only for pedestrians, but also for the drivers of electric vehicles themselves.

- From the age of 14, the Ministry of Transport takes responsibility to parents that you can ride children along the edge of the roadway. On the roads where the speed is limited to 60 km/h. In Russia, in essence, there is no such speed, because everyone goes with an non -closed excess of 20 km/h - about 80 km/h. Imagine how a child is overtaken by a child on an electric scooter at a speed of 79 km per hour - yes it will simply blow it off, ”he says.

The solution of the problem may be the construction of bicycle paths, Sokolov believes, but for this, the speed of car in the city must be reduced to 50 km per hour, and the width of the bands - up to 2.5 meters in favor of paths for personal mobility.

- There is a national project "Safe quality roads". There is an investment volume of 3 trillion rubles. We proposed to build bike paths as part of the national project. They must be separated from the carriageway not by marking, but with a stone to ensure safety. Bicycle paths requires high quality asphalt, lack of cracks and puffin. It must be monitored, marking. We need special cleaning equipment. This should be done by local authorities. Today, for the executive branch, it is better to have the dead than to pay the extra 10 million rubles for normal cleaning of bicycle roads, ”says Sokolov.

You go quieter

A photographer from St. Petersburg Valentin Belikov moves on an electric scooter for more than 5 years and does not represent more convenient transport. In his opinion, the development of personal mobility in the city on the Neva slows down the lack of high -quality road surface, bicycle roads, as well as a huge flow of cars.

- I don’t drive by car: there is nowhere to park it, plus on an electric scooter much faster. I try to go along the extreme right, because the speed of 25 km per hour is like a bicycle. For myself, I equalized the electric scooter with bicycles, and I hope that this rule will appear in the law. In a good way, they cannot be equated with pedestrians, because their speed is a maximum of 5 km per hour, and the speed should be the same, ”he says.

It is more difficult to manage an electric scooter than a bicycle, he believes. Small wheels feel any joints on the road, and in order to show a turn sign, you need a skill that does not come right away.

- Once I ran into another self -set on the sidewalk, where the review was closed by the advertising structure. I just slowed down because I saw a pedestrian crossing, so the blow was not easy, and we went on. At full speed, he would most likely fall, because it was a small kid on a regular stunt scooter. Of course, I would have shot him down, Belikov admits.

The new drivers of electric scooters need to undergo driving training, since this type of transport is extremely traumatic, he is sure. Moreover, this applies to rental services that allow everyone to ride. The rules for renting electric scooters through applications, such as Whoosh, Molnia-K and Urent, oblige to use this transport from the age of 18, in a sober state, without passengers. Passing pedestrian transitions on scooters is prohibited. In fact, rarely someone complies with these rules, and rolling services turn a blind eye to violations.

The organizer of the movement of city scooters Let's Kick Moscow Alexander Nilov believes that scooters are a logical development of modern cities, but the speed must be reduced:

- I am extremely negative about the idea of a complete ban on scooters, because any means of personal mobility is the logical development of modern cities. We see this on the example of Europe - there are fewer cars, and there are more scooters. But there the speed of their movement is reduced to 50 km/h, or even lower. And in Moscow, people drive at a speed of 80 km/h. Of course, for general safety, this speed must be reduced. On our streets with the old infrastructure, too many electric scooters appeared, which seem to people dangerous and foreign objects. In some ways, I can agree with this. At the same time, Moscow with wide sidewalks in this regard is still much more adapted for scooters than European cities with their small pedestrian streets. On the other hand, some users of electric scooters perceive these wide sidewalks as an opportunity for fast driving and performing some sharp maneuvers. Of course, this is a matter of culture of movement that is only born, ”says Nilov. - In addition, it seems to me that many media demonizes scooters and exaggerate their danger. For example, the news recently passed that some person disappeared from a killer self-made man. It turned out that a killer was chasing him, who really used a scooter as a vehicle. But we do not see the headlines that someone was persecuted by a killer motorist or killer pedestrian. That is, now the media are forming a negative image of scooters. But at the same time, people using scooters are not some special subculture. These are ordinary citizens who were pedestrians five minutes ago, public transport passengers and simply wanted to optimize their movement around the city. A large number of motorists carry an electric steamfish in their trunk. Someone puts the car a few kilometers from the office and uses a rolling screw to get to the office and not look for parking. In this regard, a scooter, including an electric, very convenient vehicle, especially within the metropolis.

The organizer of the “Blue Buckets” movement Petr Shkumatov says that it refers to the scooters normally, because this is a very convenient and comfortable way to move over short distances.

Scooters are different, and some scooters develop a speed of movement up to 100 kilometers per hour

- In Moscow, where motorists twisted a horn to Barani, many motorists use electric scapats as an alternative vehicle - from parking to the office. Of course, there are certain problems associated with absolute legal vacuum regarding scooters. Of course, it must be eliminated. Because now, for example, the driver of an electric scooter is considered a pedestrian. Scooters are different, and some scooters develop a speed of up to 100 kilometers per hour. And this is not a joke, he personally saw on the Moscow ring road, ”says Skumatov. - But the electric steamers, even under pain of fines, are unlikely to go to the roadway, and they actually have nothing to do there. Obviously, on electric scooters they will continue to drive along the sidewalk. And here it is necessary to find some kind of balance of interests. Ideas have already been expressed about the presumption of the guilt of an electric steamer: if a collision with a pedestrian occurs, then the electric steamer should be a priori to blame. And such ideas, in principle, deserve attention, that is, there is a rational grain there. The electric steamers themselves will, of course, be unhappy, but perhaps they will become more careful. We need some hard restrictions, I think that it should be a speed of no more than 20 kilometers per hour.

The experience of other countries

In many countries, the problem with personal mobility has already been solved. The programmer from Seattle Ayun Shozhitova acquired an electric steamfish to overcome the first mile and last mile. So in the USA they call distances from home to stopping public transport, as well as from stopping to the office.

-I bought a scooter, but I went very little, because, firstly, it’s cold in winter, and secondly, there are a lot of traffic lights around the city, and I accelerate and do not like to stop. When the red lights up, I often "skip." This is not very safe for me and others, and I do not always go with the helmet, although I should. As a result, I used a taxi more often and then moved closer to the stop. It’s normal to drive around the city, because 90% of the roads in the center of Seattle have bicycles. You can’t ride along the sidewalk. The townspeople in this regard respect each other, show common sense and dismount if they interfere with passers -by. The "zebram" scooters drive from the edge or walk on foot, - says Ayuna.

IT specialist Daria Korotkova lives in a suburb of Tel Aviv for almost three years. All this period it uses an electric scooter.

I go to work every day, it takes 18 minutes

- I bought a scooter almost immediately as I arrived. For me, this was a solution to the problem with transport. I then worked in a cafe in night shifts, and you can return home at one in the morning only on an electric scooter or wait for a night bus, which walks not clear how. And I did not want to spend money on public transport. Now I use a scooter every day, and I am their main fan! I go to work every day, it takes 18 minutes with me. By the bus 45 minutes in a good situation, because I need to get to the stop from my house and get to work from the stop, ”she says.

In 2019, Daria received a fine for riding a pedestrian path.

- It is forbidden to ride along the sidewalk. I was driving at low speed, and the policeman almost got up from the bench. I wrote out a fine of 256 shekels - about 5700 rubles, ”she recalls.

Since then, Daria moves only along roads, since, in Tel Aviv, most of them have a bicycle strip. Moreover, the path continues at pedestrian crossings where separate traffic lights have been created for mobile transport.

-In Tel Aviv there is no problem getting from point A to point B, but I live in the suburbs, and there are much less bicycle paths. I move around the roadway, it is unpleasant and scary, but you get used to it. I am not alone: there are a lot of electric bikes, scooters. I never got into an accident, but I saw them. Often this happens when the car turns and does not see a scooter that rides on the right. My scooter accelerates to 30 km per hour, and this is enough, I think, because you can kill on more powerful. In my opinion, the future is behind such transport. I have no family yet, I do not need a car to transport children. For yourself, the scooter is quite enough, given that the distances in Israel are small. Plus, the weather allows you to ride almost all year round, ”she said.