Parisians vote to banish electric scooters from the city’s streets

Residents of Paris have voted overwhelmingly to ban for-hire electric scooters from the city’s streets, in what is seen as a victory for road safety campaigners.

In a referendum on Sunday, 90 per cent of voters backed the ban, but with less than 8 per cent of those eligible placing a vote.

The scooters are easy to locate and hire through a downloadable app, and can be picked up and dropped off anywhere around the city that the renters choose.

But while they are a hit with tourists, many Parisians complain that the e-scooters are an eyesore and a traffic menace, with pedestrians complaining about reckless driving.

Since their introduction to the city five years ago, they have been involved in hundreds of accidents, some of them fatal.

“They’re dangerous, both for those who use them and for pedestrians,” Francoise Granier, a doctor who voted on Sunday told AFP.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who campaigned to have them banished on safety, public nuisance, and environmental cost-benefit grounds, described the outcome of the vote as “very clear”.

As a result, the 15,000 self-service scooters will vanish from the city centre at the end of August when the city’s contracts with the three operators expire.

This means Paris, which pioneered support for the “trottinettes” as they are known, is now set to become the only major European capital to outlaw them.

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