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- What a number: the Ministry of Transport is preparing new amendments to traffic rules for SIMs
What a number: the Ministry of Transport is preparing new amendments to traffic rules for SIMs
Electric scooters will receive license plates, and it will be possible to drive such vehicles from the age of 16. Corresponding amendments to the traffic rules are being prepared by the Ministry of Transport. The document also plans to spell out the requirements for overtaking and outrunning pedestrians by persons driving a SIM. Details - in the material "Izvestia".
Numbers instead of tracks
The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation is developing new amendments to the traffic rules concerning means of individual mobility (SIM). This was announced at a round table held as part of the XVIII International Forum "Transport Week", Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy in the field of road and urban passenger transport of the Ministry of Transport Vladimir Lugovenko. He said that in the course of interdepartmental discussion of changes in the law "On organization of road traffic" it was decided to abandon the previously assumed creation of a system, which would be transmitted data on location, speed, time of the beginning and end of the trip, as well as its route.
- A conceptual decision was made to control the observance of traffic rules by persons driving SIMs in the classical way - with the help of license plates and photo-video registration systems for traffic violations. We are not ready for the so-called tracks yet," said Vladimir Lugovenko.
In fact, SIM drivers are offered to control compliance with traffic rules by registering the equipment and obtaining registration plates, which will be "read" by the cameras, he explained.
The representative of the Ministry of Transport said that it is planned to raise from the current 14 to 16 years of age the minimum age from which it is allowed to drive a means of individual mobility. In addition, the traffic rules will separately formulate the requirements and conditions that will be obliged to comply with SIM drivers when overtaking or overtaking pedestrians. It is also planned to specify the actions of electric scooters (which ones, it is not specified) when approaching blind spots, for example, the corner of a house or other places where there is a potentially high risk of collision with people and other vehicles, said Vladimir Lugovenko.
The new version of the traffic rules will clarify the concept of "bicycle". Now it is "a vehicle, <...> which has at least two wheels and is propelled, as a rule, by muscle energy <...> and may also have an electric motor <...> with a power not exceeding 0.25 kW, automatically disconnected at a speed of more than 25 km / h". According to a representative of the Ministry of Transport, the changes prepared by the agency stipulate that only equipment driven solely by muscle power will be considered a bicycle. Devices with electric motors will automatically move into the category of "means of individual mobility", he emphasized.
- In the near future, the Ministry of Transport will finalize these changes in traffic rules and submit them for public discussion, - promised Vladimir Lugovenko.
Representatives of kickshare operators present at the round table supported these proposals, promising to lower the age from the current 18 to 16 years, from which it is allowed to rent an electric scooter, "after these changes will be enshrined in the traffic rules". At the same time, Ksenia Erdman, director of the Association of Micro Mobility Operators, asked the representative of the Ministry of Transport to consider the possibility of allowing SIM drivers to drive on dedicated lanes for public transport in the traffic rules.
"It's not the numbers but the dynamics that are frightening."
The Interior Ministry also agrees with the changes proposed by the Ministry of Transport. According to Police Colonel Dmitry Mitroshin, head of the head of the Scientific Center for Road Traffic Safety (SCRTS) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who participated in the roundtable, they should help reduce the number of traffic violations and accident rates with this technique.
He reported that for nine months of the current year in Russia there were 3,897 accidents with the participation of means of individual mobility. In these accidents 44 people died, including six minors, and more than 4 thousand people (including 1392 under 18 years old) were injured, said the head of the National Center for Road Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
- It is not so much the figures that are frightening as the dynamics of accidents involving SIM: the number of such accidents has increased one and a half times over the year. The number of people killed in them increased by 41.9%, and the number of injured - by 48.8%. At the same time, the seasonal factor is clearly visible in the statistics of SIM accidents: the increase in the number of accidents starts in April, - said Dmitry Mitroshin.
He emphasized that most of the incidents with SIM occurred on sidewalks, walkways and pedestrian zones. Also, these incidents often occur when the means of individual mobility leave the adjacent territory.
- Allowing SIMs to drive on sidewalks and crosswalks is a temporary measure. We plan to abandon it as we develop the appropriate infrastructure for this equipment, - said Vladimir Lugovenko.
He reminded that the development of infrastructure for SIM is provided by the "road map", approved by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin and a number of regulations. This work is entrusted primarily to regional and municipal authorities, emphasized the representative of the Ministry of Transport.
As "Izvestia" reported earlier, it is assumed that the ban on driving by SIM on sidewalks may be introduced in 2031
Three scenarios
In addition to changes in traffic rules, presumably from next spring, larger fines may be introduced for SIM drivers. As the author of the relevant amendments to the CAO, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction Artem Sheikin stated at the roundtable, the bill on tougher penalties for SIM drivers, adopted in the summer in the first reading, is now "being finalized for the second reading".
Changes in the legislation concerning SIM are necessary, according to the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) Foundation. However, along with the Ministry of Transportation's proposals and amendments to the Administrative Offenses Code, other measures are also needed, according to Tatyana Gorovaya, First Deputy Director General of the Center for Strategic Research.
- We see three possible regulatory scenarios regarding SIM. The first of them, the easiest and, as it seems to us, the optimal one, envisages infrastructure development, mandatory identification of all users and testing them for knowledge of traffic rules, as well as introduction of general recommendations for regions on the standards of operation of this equipment," she said.
The second, "medium", scenario proposed by the CSR suggests, in addition, the introduction of mandatory liability insurance for SIM drivers, as well as their use of helmets. The third, "hard" version adds a complete ban on driving on sidewalks and pedestrian paths, as well as the need to have an "M" category driver's license to operate a personal mobility vehicle.
SIM is growing
Electric scooters, electric bicycles and other means of individual mobility have become, in fact, a separate mode of transportation, according to Ksenia Erdman, director of the Association of Micro Mobility Operators. This year, the number of trips by rented vehicles alone has grown by 30%. Almost 272 million such trips were made in Russia.
- Compared to last year, the number of users of kicksharing services increased by 61%. If 36.5 million people were registered in them in 2023, now there are already 61 million. At the same time, the fleet of rental companies increased by a third, from 300,000 to 413,000. SIM," she noted at the round table.
One of the main events of the past SIM season, she called the appearance of special numbers on all rental equipment, simplifying the identification of violators. At the moment, the operators themselves issued 308 thousand fines to users for various violations, and the accounts of 408 thousand users were blocked, she said. Thus, less than 1% of the users of kickshare services violate traffic rules and lease terms, Ksenia Erdman noted.
