Miri Regev's bill - like a scooter galloping to nowhere - voila! money

Shared scooters. Miri Regev's bill is populist and empty/PR

No one was surprised by the data published ahead of the debate on the "Bill for the Licensing of E-Scooters and Bicycles" in the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, which indicated about 4,000 accidents in the past year involving electric vehicles.

For years, the Israeli public has been outraged by the lack of treatment of the problem, especially when it comes to hit-and-run accidents resulting from wild driving on paths and pedestrian sidewalks. The new bill tabled by Transportation Minister Miri Regev purports to put an end to this. Unfortunately, this is a populist bill that does not constitute a deterrent solution, and will not help victims receive compensation for bodily injury.

The problem of these two-wheeled vehicles is not unique to Israel. The Paris municipality also recently announced, in an unprecedented move, that it is retiring all 15,4 vehicles in the city from public use, after four deaths have been caused since the beginning of the year.

In Tel Aviv, on the other hand, the rate of use is only increasing, and today reaches 160,<> trips a day within the city, according to data from the police, the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Gartner Institute. This number is only expected to continue to grow when the decommissioned French scooters arrive in Tel Aviv.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev/Reuven Castro

Today, an injury by a pedestrian from a cyclist is not considered a road accident according to the Road Accident Victims Compensation Law, known as the Road Accident Victims Law. According to the law, anyone injured by an electric scooter is not entitled to insurance indemnity and will have to sue the person who injured him.

In this situation, the bill for a licensing requirement may indeed help identify and locate the offending party, but what good did the wise men do in their regulation, if the bill does not impose an insurance obligation (at least towards a third party) and leaves the victims without insurance coverage to deal directly with the offenders, who often cannot be repaid?

Therefore, it is necessary to add an insurance obligation to the bill. The problem lies in the fact that because of its high costs, there is a tendency among the public to break the law and travel without insurance at all, especially when it comes to couriers or teenagers. Since consideration must also be given to those who wish to reduce transportation costs, a relatively inexpensive insurance solution must be found or at least an insurance obligation must be imposed on a third party.

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Adv. Amikam Harlap, an expert in torts, insurance claims, and medical malpractice/PR

Full disclosure, I myself believe that the use of small vehicles should be encouraged, which provide a response to congestion and traffic jams on urban transportation routes and reduce air pollution. Therefore, since this is a desirable activity, there will be no choice but to carry out 'cost pricing' according to the principles of damage law and oblige riders to carry compulsory insurance that will guarantee financial compensation to the victims.

In fact, this is an outdated bill that has been rolling in the Knesset for about five years, ostensibly intended to require means of identification for enforcement purposes, but ignores the shortage of manpower in the police. Unfortunately, in the absence of a police force capable of enforcing the huge number of traffic offenses committed every day, it follows that the change that the transport minister purports to lead is "cupping for the dead."

In addition, any deterrent and compensatory law, however deterrent, cannot replace the need to invest in adequate safety infrastructures that can prevent accidents. A classic example of improper infrastructure can be found on Ibn Gvirol Street in Tel Aviv.

Anyone walking on this street knows that the bike lane is inside the sidewalk, is not separated by a level and ends surprisingly just before the bus stop. This way, anyone who gets off the bus goes directly into the bike lane and risks being run over.

Every day that passes without anyone being hurt there is a miracle. Therefore, it is necessary to pave travel lanes with a level separation between the sidewalks and bicycle paths, which will drastically reduce the number of accidents and casualties.

The bill for licensing e-scooters and e-bikes is empty. A bit like trying to win a war with a jumper gun. It positions the identification tables as a "super-solution" to a much more complex problem, for which significantly broader legislative solutions must be found, while investing resources in infrastructure and manpower.

• More on the subject:
• Electric scooter
• Miri Regev
• Shared Transportation