The mobility of the future, made up of light, zero-emission shared vehicles, seems to have arrived. Covid and the need to stay away from crowded public transport seem to have given the final push to prejudice. Indeed, among the many changes to the highway code – over 40 articles have been changed – the scooter sector is the one that has received the most attention. Not only that: even the “inspiring principles” of the Code have been modified, in homage to the new mobility. Article 1 now reads: “The safety and protection of people’s health as well as the protection of the environment, in road traffic, are among the primary aims of a social and economic nature pursued by the State”.
The mobility of the future: this is how you move around the city
Of course, on scooters other than “narrow”: due to an oversight in the wording of the text it is now possible to travel freely on state and provincial roads with a similar means, as long as there is no cycle path next to the carriageway. And since bike lanes are never close to this type of freeway, it creates a huge road safety problem.
Then comes the obligation to have direction indicators, stop, and front and rear brakes. No helmet or license plate obligation, but new speed limits: from 25 to 20 km / h, the limit of 6 km / h on pedestrian roads remains. Finally, the requirements that mainly electric propulsion scooters must have are listed precisely: no seats; electric motor with a continuous rated power not exceeding 0.50 kW; acustic signal; speed regulator configurable according to the new limits; ‘CE’ marking. Fines from 100 to 400 euros and confiscation of the vehicle for rigged scooters.
The real revolution does not only concern the means but also their use: the fifth Report of the National Observatory on sharing mobility has given us the photographer of a sector in sharp recovery, with scooters, bicycles and scooters in sharing that in 2021 have exceeded the values of the pre-pandemic 2019, while car sharing is reaching them in this period. And we are talking about a huge world: overall, in Italy, subscriptions to shared mobility services are 5.6 million, with 158 sharing services active in 49 cities (triple in 2015). About 15 million Italians can use at least one service, with nearly 90,000 vehicles being shared. If this is not a revolution …
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