«Shame! They disregard the bans in Latvia and greedily profit from teenagers» - outraged on social media 0 18

Despite the scandal following the tragic death of two 13-year-old girls at the Imanta station - who were riding a rented scooter - the company "Ride Mobility" (SIA "Ride") continued its operations despite a ban from the Consumer Rights Protection Center (CRPC). The Latvian segment of social media is extremely dissatisfied with this approach of the company's management.

"Every day I see teenagers riding these scooters without rules. They don't have the right to operate this vehicle. They park them wherever they want. They risk their lives and the lives of others on the roads of Latvia. But the company blatantly disregarded even the ban from the Latvian Consumer Rights Protection Center on conducting activities, which shows: greedy, unscrupulous people who only care about money, cynical creatures," writes Janis on Facebook.

"I'm fed up. They constantly throw these scooters around. They park them right on the sidewalk, making it impossible for people to pass. In the center of Riga, they ride without rules, both on the roads and on pedestrian sidewalks. It's chaos," complains Andrei.

"Only strict checks and control of these shady companies will stop this nonsense. How many more teenagers have to die on these scooters? And this is still called Europe... Look at Paris, where rental scooters have been completely banned," shared his opinion Alex.

"In all developed cities of the European Union, strict control and restrictions on the rental of scooters and electric scooters have long been implemented. But Latvian cities are not on this list, and the Riga deputies are resting - apparently, everyone was waiting for a major tragedy that would spread across all media and social networks. But even with such noise, Ride Mobility continued to profit from teenagers and carry out rentals despite the ban, and this says a lot; people do not matter - only profits do," believes Mara.

"They have a big lobby in Riga. They don't care about the petty fines for them," writes Anna.

"Riga is among the top cities with a large number of injured people - both on scooters and among pedestrians," thinks Raivis.

"Were you waiting for this case? Couldn't it have been foreseen? But even here, the rental companies distinguished themselves by continuing to make money off blood? Shame! They disregard the bans in Latvia and greedily profit from teenagers. And the parents who give their children documents to create fake accounts are, it seems, complicit fools," is convinced Maria.

State Police representative Lina Bagdone noted that this transport can be regarded as a bicycle. According to Article 24, Part 4 of the Road Traffic Law, individuals aged 10 to 17 are allowed to participate in traffic on a bicycle independently, provided they have a license for a bicycle or any other type of vehicle.

In the media, road safety expert from CSDD Oskars Irbitis emphasized that regardless of the brand or color of these vehicles, rental agreements can currently only be made by adults. Nevertheless, teenagers can often be seen driving such vehicles on the streets, which means that adults are sharing their accounts, for which they bear full responsibility.

Recall that on October 1, a tragic incident occurred at the Imanta railway station: two girls riding a rented scooter were hit by a train. The ambulance reported that one of the girls died at the scene even before the medics arrived. Three medical teams tried to save the second girl, but her injuries were too severe.