On Sunday, September 6, at around 4:00 p.m., a Reader driving along the Bolesławiec bypass noticed a young man riding an electric scooter on the roadway. The incident was recorded by a dashcam.
The recording shows the man riding the scooter in the right lane while cars are traveling alongside him. One part of the recording also shows a sign imposing a speed limit of 60 km/h.
The situation concerned the person who submitted the report, who drew attention above all to the risks associated with riding a scooter on a road intended for motor traffic:
Please publish this as a warning to this young man and his parents; perhaps they will understand that buying the scooter was not a good decision
Can you ride an electric scooter on the roadway?
It is worth taking this opportunity to recall that regulations concerning electric scooters specify quite precisely where their users may travel. As a rule, a scooter rider should use a cycle path or cycle lane if one has been designated for their direction of travel. If no such infrastructure exists, they may use the roadway, but only when the permitted speed there does not exceed 30 km/h.
If a higher speed limit applies on a given road and there is no suitable cycling infrastructure, the regulations exceptionally allow the use of a pedestrian path—provided that the rider exercises particular caution, yields priority to pedestrians and travels at a speed close to that of a pedestrian.
The recording shows that the scooter rider is speeding along a section where the limit is 60 km/h. Meanwhile, the two-wheeler rider does not slow down at all. This is not only about the regulations, but above all about safety. A person riding a scooter is an unprotected road user. If struck by a car, they are not protected by the vehicle body, seat belts or airbags.
The police have repeatedly reminded people that electric scooter users should pay particular attention to choosing where they ride and comply with the applicable rules. The maximum permitted speed for a scooter is 20 km/h, and when using a sidewalk, the rider must travel at a speed close to that of a pedestrian.
The recording from the Bolesławiec bypass is above all a warning. All it takes is a moment of inattention by one of the drivers, an unexpected maneuver or an obstacle on the road for a seemingly harmless situation to end in a serious accident.