Opinion: The state must put order in the jungle of power tools - Walla! vehicle

2021-10-26T06:49:44.397Z

It is time for the state to treat electric bicycles and scooters as vehicles, including licensing and insurance

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technology

Opinion: The state must make order in the jungle of power tools

Electric bikes and scooters are already a fait accompli on city streets.

But the state must stop turning a blind eye to the need to regulate their license.

how?

there is a solution

A 40-year-old electric scooter rider was killed by a truck in Tel Aviv

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The contribution is important, but the lack of enforcement and the series leads to lawlessness (Photo: Keinan Cohen, Reuven Sabiu)

There is no question about the contribution of the tiny two-wheeled vehicles as an efficient and accessible means of transportation.

These help reduce vehicle congestion on the roads, hence reducing congestion and traffic jams, minimizing the likelihood of accidents between cars and pedestrians, complementary means of public transport in the "last mile" challenge, a convenient platform for the many delivery services that also flourished and reducing air pollution in urban space.

So electric bikes are not defined as a motor vehicle: what are the consequences?

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Donate, but charge a price

But it is important to consider the number of victims as well.

According to CBS and the National Road Safety Authority, in 2020 there were 1,275 electric bicycle accidents and 653 scooter accidents, an increase of 12% from 2019. In addition, there was an increase in the number of fatalities: 24 people were killed in these accidents in 2020, compared to 21 In 2019, in accordance with the data of the Israel Police, there was an increase of about 17.6% between the two years in the distribution of reports to riders of these vehicles for traffic offenses, and a jump of 38% for not wearing a helmet.

The increase took place against the background of the 'Corona Year', which was characterized by a lack of traffic due to the closures, which only intensifies the significance.

The numbers speak for themselves and require addressing the root of the phenomenon and the measures that can be reduced, given the sharp public criticism of the issue.

Regulating license and insurance numbers may well contribute, along with additional measures.

The tools of the large companies are marked and numbered (Photo: Keinan Cohen, Keinan Cohen)

Although a number of operative actions have already been implemented in order to reduce the damage, regulatory and level of enforcement in the field.

In Minister Michaeli's spoken plan, for example, NIS 2 billion will be allocated for investment in widening bicycle paths. Limiting and enforcing speed; and even initiatives and developments on the part of some of the companies that provide the tools. Everything is important and good done, but the results on the ground are still unsatisfactory.

Arranging license numbers will contribute to identifying the tools and their riders, and hence to increasing enforcement and deterrence ahead of time.

As mentioned, this is a user section that is associated with young people, some without a license for a regular or two-wheeled vehicle, sometimes blazers riding in the dark, and until the outbreak of the Corona, tourists who will return soon and are not sufficiently aware of local restrictions and rules (of course.

Numbers for identifying the tool will lead to a reduction in its use for illegal acts (Photo: Keinan Cohen, Reuven Sabiu)

The scooter and the bicycle as a criminal device

Thanks to the required regulation, an important aspect that will contribute to minimizing a phenomenon that is currently prone to disaster will be in the prevention of hit-and-run accidents. Vehicles, motorcycles and scooters carry license numbers, and apparently this significantly reduces the chances of their drivers escaping the scene without being caught, especially nowadays when many of the roads are networked with cameras. Whereas there have already been accidents of power tools including with fatalities when the riders fled, in the absence of a license or identification number and under the auspices of the helmet that helped hide their identities. For example, the trampling to death of the late Antonio Raya, 85, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in central Tel Aviv by electric bicycle, is particularly memorable when the rider was never located.

This also applies to criminal acts of the kind committed by riders during their journey, when it is relatively easy for them to slip out of the arena and the tools are used as comfortable "escape vehicles", and the lack of identification marks and helmet helps them as stated. Among other things, property offenses such as pedestrian pick-up were reported,In addition to violent offenses such as attacking protesters or closing accounts due to conflicts.

Contribute to reducing congestion, but create quite a few risks (Photo: Walla !, Or Ravid)

Catch 22 of power tool accidents

After the accidents, the problematic continues into what follows.

In the absence of a regulatory series, there is no insurance mechanism to cover the victims.

Thus, there is a paradox when it comes to accidents involving these tools.

If the rider is injured in an accident with a car, then he will be covered by the compulsory insurance of the vehicle as a pedestrian, because the vehicle on which he is riding is not defined as a "motor vehicle" (according to a precedent-setting PSD from 2019). , He can sue the local authority.If it is a self-inflicted accident without injury (due to the negligence of the rider or for some other reason), then he has no one to repay unless he has personal insurance.

On the other hand, when pedestrians are injured as a result of the riders' injury, instead of a mechanism that covers them automatically as in an accident with a car, motorcycle or scooter, the only choice for them (assuming they do not have personal insurance) .

This is if the defendant is at all solvable.

And even before that at the scene of the accident, one is again required to rely on luck and hope that the rider will agree to exchange details and not disappear from the scene.

Adv. Dotan Lindenberg (Photo: Dubi Feiner)

To prevent this in advance, insurance can be required.

Although the cost of ordinary compulsory insurance similar to that in which motor vehicles are charged can reach a rate of thousands of shekels, certainly more expensive than cycling and therefore not applicable.

But it is possible to charge relatively cheap insurance that is limited in scope and covers up to a certain limit, including deductibles, which cost only hundreds of shekels.

That is, the insurance that currently exists in the market, but for the time being the riders have not yet been required by legislation to purchase it.

A combination of investing in infrastructure and establishing as many separate travel routes as possible, with a regulated licensing charge as well as an appropriate insurance charge alongside increased enforcement, can significantly reduce the number of casualties in accidents involving scooters and electric bikes, and preferably one hour earlier.

Adv. Dotan Lindenberg handles personal injury claims and serves as co-chair of the Southern District Medical Malpractice Committee of the Bar Association.