# Electric Scooters Were Supposed to Fix Getting Around Rome. Then They Became a Serious Problem > Find out why the e-scooters meant to save Rome from traffic jams turned into a headache for the Eternal City, and what it means for tourists. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/elektroskutery-vypravlyat-sytuatsiyu-z-peresuvannyam/ - Language: en - Published: 2023-09-12 - Categories: News, Culture, Historic Sites, Leisure, Tours, Italy --- Rome, the Eternal City, has weathered invasions, conquests and lootings countless times since it was founded almost 2,800 years ago. Every assault has left its scars across the city, from the ruins of the Roman Forum to the hollow of the Circus Maximus, where chariots once raced. The modern decline has also left residents fuming at what often feels like sheer complacency in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The latest invasion of the Italian capital comes from electric scooters (more than 14,000 of them), modern chariots that block sidewalks, rattle drivers and kill. Since rental scooters were rolled out three years ago as an alternative to public transport during the Covid pandemic, four people have died riding them, according to Eugenio Patane, a member of Rome city hall's mobility council. Health authorities say the city's emergency rooms see at least one serious scooter-related injury every three days. And yet only 2 percent (around 270) of the pedal scooters available for rent are used each day. Rome city hall has licensed seven companies to handle battery swaps, repairs, moving scooters to high-traffic spots and fishing them out of the city's Tiber River. It is the scooters left sitting unused that cause the biggest problem, especially for people with disabilities. ## 'A series of scares' ![](/storage/image/prev/Italy-1-Skyter-R-1024x576.jpg) Giuliano Frittelli, president of the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially Sighted, taps his way with a cane around half a dozen scooters cluttering the sidewalk outside his office in the city center, and explains that for people who cannot see, they are a deadly trap. "The first problem is the wild parking," Frittelli says, tapping his cane against the base of a scooter and pointing out that their odd shape also makes it easy for the visually impaired to trip over them. He also says that because they are electric, they are silent, which is another danger for those who cannot see. "You can't hear them, so you can't get your bearings," Frittelli says, recalling a time when a scooter passed so close to a blind person that his startled guide dog leapt off the sidewalk, causing what he described as "a series of scares" that, luckily, did not end in physical injuries. Frittelli's group is working with Rome city hall to require scooters to be parked only in designated areas. He also wants them adapted to produce a sound of at least 30 decibels, so they can warn people they are coming. He says it is not only people with disabilities, including wheelchair users, who struggle to move through the streets when the sidewalks are strewn with scooters. Elderly people and parents with strollers suffer too. Eugenio Patane, a member of Rome city hall's traffic council, agrees. He says that from January 1, 2023, the city will renew permits for only 9,000 scooters and cut the number of companies allowed to rent them to three. He says the city also plans to require a certain share of the scooters to be placed in the suburbs and other neighborhoods, so ordinary residents can use them for what it calls the "last mile," which might carry them from a metro station to their home or let them quickly run an errand without getting in the car. "They are a danger to people, but they are also a problem for the city, for the beauty of the city," Patane says. "The city center is a UNESCO heritage site, it is very fragile, and we have to take care of it." Assosharing, the Italian trade association for shared mobility, said in a statement that accidents involving e-scooters are rare (44 for every 10,000 scooters) and that serious incidents mostly involve privately owned equipment. "The alarmist tones are, in essence, detached from reality," the statement said. "First of all, it should be made clear that vehicle use in Rome is in line with other European capitals." The organization said Rome's experience is on a par with other major European cities, though Italy is lagging in passing legislation that would help make e-scooters a key part of transport solutions. "Assosharing stresses the need to increase the number of parking spaces designated for scooters in Rome and to accelerate new bike lanes in line with the standards of the main European capitals," the statement said. ## Ignoring the rules In early June, two Americans were fined $800 for hurling rented scooters down the Spanish Steps, causing around $26,000 in damage to the fragile marble. The incident was caught on security cameras and by passersby, who watched one of the tourists throw a heavy metal scooter, capturing the sound of it crashing onto the steps. According to Patane, e-scooters are used mostly by tourists and young people. The rules are often ignored, especially the ones that ban riding on sidewalks and limit the number of passengers to one person. Renters are also supposed to be over 18. And the city cannot require rental companies to provide helmets, so few people wear them. Police check scooters infrequently, and fines for breaking basic rules are rare, since it is hard to enforce a "no riding on sidewalks" rule when the scooters are usually parked on the sidewalks. All the same, they are popular with tourists. "For getting around the city, especially the historic center, where driving is practically impossible, it is exactly what you need," said Walter Hughes of Dallas, Texas. "Within a \[two-to-three-mile\] radius that you cover quickly, there is nowhere to park a car, it is too hot to walk for five hours, so this is what you need." Not everyone agrees. Taxi drivers, who have spent years weaving through pedestrians and mopeds, say e-scooters are a far bigger problem. Eduardo Conticello has been in repeated crashes in his taxi and wishes scooters would be banned altogether. He says they often stop in front of him or fall over. "When I see them, I drive very, very slowly," he explains, which lengthens the trip and means his passengers pay more because of them. "They are very dangerous." But life in the Eternal City has never been especially easy across its 2,800 years. As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. And its problems are not solved in a day either.