Reaction tests, age verification, and possession of licenses should become mandatory for everyone renting an electric scooter, electric bicycle, and other similar public transport vehicles. The corresponding proposals from the Minister of Transport were approved today by the Economic Commission of the Saeima, which is currently preparing the amendments to the Road Traffic Law for final reading, reports the Latvian Radio News Service.
In order to rent an electric scooter, electric bicycle, or other public transport vehicle, the user will need to confirm their age, possession of the appropriate driver's license, and pass a reaction test in the mobile application or on the website to confirm that they are not under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating substances. Such proposals from the Minister of Transport were approved today by the responsible parliamentary committee.
However, they included an additional point that local governments could establish their own procedures for conducting the reaction test. This point was particularly supported by the minister's party colleague, the Mayor of Riga, Viesturs Kleinbergs.
"If you give local governments the freedom in this matter, we will definitely, in discussions with the Micro-Mobility Association, communities, and residents, come to solutions that will be most convenient for all parties. It will be easier to do this if we do not have to coordinate everything with the Cabinet of Ministers or the Saeima," he stated.
However, most committee members did not support this specific point, and, having struck it out, they proceeded with other proposals from the Ministry of Transport.
The argument against one of them—on the mandatory verification of the user's rights—was proposed by a representative of Bolt, Edvins Kajoķs, who noted that "bicycle" licenses do not exist in all EU countries. "For example, tourists from the Netherlands, where there is a rich cycling culture, coming to Latvia will not be able to use public scooters or bicycles because they essentially do not have such licenses," he explained.
To which the representative of the Legal Bureau of the Saeima, Gatis Melnudris, remarked that the absence of certain rights in a particular country should not hinder the establishment of road safety requirements in Latvia.
"Basic knowledge of traffic rules should be possessed by any driver in Latvia operating a vehicle. If they do not have a bicycle license, then let them ensure the presence of others. This is the minimum standard of how the state can ensure that a person knows the traffic rules (...)" said Melnudris.
And although most of the Ministry of Transport's proposals were approved today, the committee did not have time to fully review the amendments to the Road Traffic Law and will continue working on them.
As reported by LETA, the ministry also insists on mandatory registration of self-propelled bicycles (i.e., scooters with pedals), mandatory civil liability insurance for their owners, a ban on riding on sidewalks, and more.
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