Amid the rising number of people being injured and killed on e-scooters in the French capital, Paris residents have voted to ban rental electric scooters, reported BBC on 3 March.
As per the official results, almost 90% of votes cast on Sunday favoured a ban the battery-powered devices.
For the referendum, just over 103,000 people took part, out of 1.38 million people on the city’s electoral register, while 91,300 voted against the scooters.
Though the French Capital was one of the first cities to adopt the electric vehicles, critics were of the opinion that these caused more harm than good.
Concerns were raised on the way the e-scooters were driven in the city — dodging pedestrians on pavements and getting up to speeds of 17mph (27km/h), added the report.
Apart from this, other issues include riders did not wear helmets and children as young as 12 could legally hire the e-scooters. Even groups of parked e-scooters were cluttering pavements.
However, e-scooters operators argued that these vehicles made up a small proportion of overall traffic accidents in Paris.
With Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called the referendum, three main operators – Lime, Dott and Tier – used social media to urge people to vote in their favour.
According to the new introduced in 2019, a fine of €135 (£116; $146), and up to €1,500 for going over the speed limit can be imposed for violation of traffic rules.
Despite the threat of a €35 fine, a ban parking the dockless scooters on pavements largely went unheeded in Paris.
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