New laws to control electric scooters welcomed by Offaly councillor

NEW laws and Garda equipment which will control the use of electric scooters have been welcomed by Independent councillor, Sean O' Brien.

"I strongly welcome the new laws and Garda equipment which will control the use of electric scooters and make them safer for their owners and the general public.

"There has been a big increase in the ownership of E scooters and this is likely to increase. Many people have complained to me about the dangers especially the speed and owners using them on footpaths," outlined Cllr O' Brien.

The new laws state that the E scooter cannot have the capacity to exceed 20 kilometres per hour; Gardai have the power to stop users and test their scooter on a special dynamometer machine to detect the power, if this exceeds 20 kilometres per hour then it can be confiscated.

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It is now illegal to use them on footpaths, to carry a passenger or goods, to be using a mobile phone; there are fixed charge notices for any of those offences with a fine of €50.

Cllr O'Brien continued: "I am asking the Gardai to purchase more of the dynamometer machines and to move around the country with these machines to areas like Offaly to carry out inspections.

"I am also calling on the Gardai to focus on detecting E scooter users locally who I see constantly breaking the law. A pedestrian could be seriously injured or killed if they are in collision with these Scooters.

"I would encourage pedestrians to challenge the users of E scooters if they see them on footpaths as this is illegal," concluded Cllr O' Brien.

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