Electric scooter ban: Parisians to vote on controversial proposal

Paris will make a decision regarding the future of the 15,000 electric scooters available for hire in the city on April 2. City Hall has requested a vote from the populace on whether to keep the free-floating rental scooters.

These for-hire scooters, which can be rented and returned anywhere using a mobile app, have generated controversy. Several locals claim they jam the streets, block sidewalks, and pose a hazard to passersby.

According to Euronews, police reported more than 400 accidents with electric mobility devices in 2022 alone, resulting in 459 injuries. According to UK research, electric scooter users were more likely to sustain severe injuries than bicycles.

According to a study by the Queen Mary University of London and St. Mary's Hospital, riders were likelier to be intoxicated and less likely to have worn a helmet. There have even been instances of their owners throwing scooters into the Seine River in Paris.

E-scooter rental service Lime gave people 10-minute free rides if they registered to vote in the referendum. Paris is one of the cities with the most prominent program utilization, and residents have until April 2 to register to vote.

“Prove you’re registered to vote and get a free 10-minute ride on us,” the email to Lime customers said.

Green Deputy Mayor in charge of transport and public spaces David Belliard said on Twitter that proposing to “buy voters is frankly not pretty.”

Faire campagne pour le maintien des trottinettes à Paris, c'est le jeu 💁🏽‍♀️ Et le 2 avril prochain, tout les parisiens et parisiennes pourront s'exprimer dans les urnes. Mais proposer d'acheter des électeurs, c'est franchement pas joli, joli @lime_fr ! https://t.co/55LXNqm67w

— David Belliard (@David_Belliard) February 28, 2023

A new danger for the environment: e-waste

As per EPA's definition, "e-waste," "electronic waste," "e-scrap," and "end-of-life electronics" are common phrases for worn electronics that have reached the end of their useful life and are discarded, donated, or delivered to a recycler. A study published in 2019 suggested that e-scooters are pretty harmful to the environment as e-waste.

You can listen to Willian Santos on e-waste in the new episode of IE's podcast series Lexicon.