National traffic directorate road safety regulations leave town halls limited scope for their own rules regarding electric scooters and other personal mobility vehicles (PMVs). In Palma, though, the administration is contemplating a specific bylaw. A key aspect of this would be tougher fines.
The city's Ombudsman, Anna Moilanen, has been handed a petition of 1,500 signatures that were collected over one weekend by a group which is lobbying for tighter regulations. She understands why fines might be increased but wants the town hall and the Felib federation of town halls in the Balearics to press the traffic directorate for these tighter regulations.
Moilanen believes that users of PMVs must come to appreciate that they aren't just pedestrians who go faster and argues that greater control of their use is needed. "It's not uncommon to see two people on the same vehicle or speeding in the wrong direction."
In her view: "We must increase police surveillance but also focus on road safety rather than persecution."
The next step for the traffic directorate will be regulations from January 1, 2024 that will require all scooters to be certified according to a technical specifications manual and to have a serial number. But for scooters currently in circulation, it will be possible to use them until 2027 without having the serial number identification.