So far in 2021, the Urban Guard of Barcelona has imposed about 18,000 penalties between January and the end of September to citizens who went in scooter by the city. The figure includes both personal mobility vehicles (VMP) private such as those linked to some type of business. That’s 66 fines per day and the most common have to do with the fact that driving on the sidewalk or wearing headphones. This was explained this Tuesday morning by the inspector Jordi Oliveras, a spokesman for the local police, who also explained that the accident rate of these devices has grown by 54% compared to 2020 and 10% compared to all of 2019.
Based on what the agent explained, it seems that the understanding times have come to an end. “We understand that when taking a vehicle you must be aware that there is a regulation (approved in mid-2017) and they have to inform themselves, “he said. This Tuesday, in fact, the sixth campaign of the year to control the attitude of the scooters and also of the so-called ‘trixies‘. If those 18,000 fines are many or few (14,200 to private and 3,712 to economic activities related to VMP), it is possible to compare with the previous two years. There were 8,492 in 2020 and 6,546 in 2019. So yes, there are quite a few, but it shouldn’t be surprising, given that the Deputy Mayor for Security, Albert Batlle, has repeated on several occasions that this is an issue that concerns him. And obviously, it also occupies him.
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La Urbana will be distributed throughout the city in the next few days, at points where more incitement by the VMPs has already been detected, to pursue and control irresponsible attitudes. “Only in the case that it is clear that there has been a confusion on the part of the user, we can leave it in a warning,” explained Oliveras, who has taken the opportunity to remember how much it can hurt to be caught in a carelessness on scooter: driving on the sidewalk, 100 euros; run a traffic light or wearing headphones, 200 euros, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, between 500 and 1,000 euros. What is not contemplated is the withdrawal of points from the card, which happened years ago, and was corrected, to cyclists who in many cases did not have the license.
The inspector has also made reference to the accident rate, which has skyrocketed in the case of VMPs. The number of accidents is already, in the first nine months of the year, 10% higher than the global one in 2019. If compared to the same period in 2020, the growth is 54%, but the most rigorous pandemic year is unreliable comparison.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com