The Lviv City Council has approved a package of decisions that tighten the rules for using e-scooters and other micromobility devices in the city. The new requirements concern users’ age, mandatory protective gear, speed limits and regulated parking.
Under the adopted amendments to the Rules for the Improvement of the Lviv City Territorial Community, e-scooters may only be used by people aged 16 and over. The mandatory use of protective helmets while riding has also been introduced.
Separate provisions set a speed limit for e-scooters of 15 km/h in potentially hazardous areas. To this end, the council session approved the introduction of experimental road signs: special speed limit signs for e-scooters and additional plates indicating that certain signs also apply to these means of transport.
An important part of the decisions concerns the organisation of parking, primarily for rental services. The city has approved a list of parking locations for rental e-scooters and the designation of unloading zones. A total of 234 locations have been identified where rental operators must place their scooters every day and pay rent for the use of structural elements of public amenities.
The Director of the Department of Urban Mobility and Street Infrastructure of the Lviv City Council, Oleh Zabarylo, noted that a special working group had been working on the new rules for several months, drawing up proposals on age restrictions, mandatory helmets, new signs and parking. According to him, the technical implementation of the parking requirements for rental scooters on service platforms began as early as 1 July.
Compliance with the new rules in Lviv will be monitored by the patrol police together with the Municipal Guard. They will carry out inspections and information and awareness-raising activities. In the event of violations, users are promised they will be held to account. The city has also appealed to state authorities with a proposal to amend the Highway Code and the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences in order to clearly define liability for offences related to the use of e-scooters.
The city council stresses that the tougher requirements are linked to a rise in the number of injuries sustained while riding e-scooters, especially among minors. According to the city health department, since March this year more than 100 children with serious e-scooter-related injuries have been admitted to city and regional hospitals in Lviv. Last year, three children who suffered severe injuries after falling from e-scooters became posthumous donors after brain death was confirmed.
Lviv has also appealed to central government bodies, calling for the use of e-scooters to be regulated at national level as soon as possible, in order to standardise rules and liability across the country.
The city has been cooperating with e-scooter rental operators for several years under a memorandum. As a result of this cooperation, it was previously possible to limit the maximum speed of rental e-scooters to 20 km/h, and on certain sections – mainly in pedestrian zones and parks – to 15 km/h, to equip 79 official parking locations, introduce a scooter identification system and fit them with reflectors and lights.
Video of the council session and the discussion of the new rules for using e-scooters in Lviv is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/pUYDJlJOkX4?feature=oembed