ARCA, the association for the defence of Mallorca’s heritage, has denounced the increase in accidents involving electric scooters in Palma and is calling on the city council to act “more intensely” to tackle this problem.
“Over the past few days the media has reported several accidents in Palma caused by scooters that have run pedestrians over. There have also been some in which the victim has been the scooter rider himself, driving irregularly and in the wrong direction. All of them have caused serious injuries”, says ARCA which has launched a new campaign Patinetes y Bicis a Raya.
It is calling on the council to provide on its website an updated list of accidents caused by scooters, in compliance with the Data Protection Act. ARCA wants “transparency and monitoring of accidents caused by scooters, in order to better assess the unsafe situation due to the systematic non-compliance of many scooter riders with any rules. We ask the municipal authorities of Palma to monitor accidents and incidents on a daily basis, both by the health services and the police, and to make the updated data available to the public on the municipal website”.
The association stated that “it is the obligation of every person to know the civic rules for the use of scooters. And it is the duty of the authorities to ensure their compliance and the safety of pedestrians. Although their handling may seem simple, losing control can have serious and painful consequences, as can be seen in the numerous accidents they cause and suffer.”