‘It’s boorish’: E-scooter firms threaten to leave Italy after highway code updated

Fear for jobs after parliament votes for helmets, insurance and big fines for ‘wild’ riders and rogue parking, amid rise in traffic accidents

O n a road by Rome’s traffic-clogged Piazza Venezia, an e-scooter rider weaves through a crowd of pedestrians, who in turn are trying not to trip over a scooter dumped on the pavement. At the adjacent crossing, two e-scooter riders whiz through a red light as another glides around the curve with his passenger capturing the journey on her mobile phone.

Such scenes have become common in the Italian capital and other towns and cities in recent years, amid the boom in popularity of rented e-scooters. But now the government is getting tough on wayward use of the vehicles as part of a broader overhaul of the highway code.

“No more wild scooters,”said transport minister Matteo Salvini last week after parliament gave approval to a bill requiring riders to wear helmets and be insured. The vehicles will also have to have number plates, and riders will be banned from pedestrianised streets, cycle lanes and non-urban roads. On top of that, there will be stiff fines for rogue parking.

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