Swedish police take harder line on illegal electric scooters
After years of information campaigns, Swedish police are changing strategy and beginning to issue fines for illegally modified electric scooters. Parents of children under 15 years old risk being prosecuted for the offence of permitting unlicensed operation.
Swedish police take harder line on illegal electric scooters
Swedish police have run out of patience. Despite years of information initiatives and appeals to parents, the number of illegal electric scooters continues to grow. The authority is now changing tactics and moving to direct action.
According to Tekniikka & Talous, which cites Swedish media outlets Carup and Värmlands Folkblad, fines now await those driving modified vehicles. In a check in Sunne municipality, police inspected schoolchildren's electric scooters. The majority turned out to be illegal – in practice, modified.
For an electric scooter to be considered legal, the motor power must as a general rule be a maximum of 250 watts. During the check, police found several vehicles with considerably higher power. Some were reported to have as much as 600 watts.
Neighbourhood police officer Henrik Gustavsson explained to Värmlands Folkblad that the soft approach has been tried long enough.
– We have tried a soft approach, really tried to do preventive work. But now we need to start with operative work and be more straightforward for something to happen, said Gustavsson.
In practice, this means young people driving illegal electric scooters can be reported to the authorities. If the driver is under 15 years old, the parent or guardian can be suspected of the offence of permitting unlicensed operation. The penalty is usually a day fine, which means the cost can be high depending on income.
Police believe that many parents are not aware at all of what vehicles their children are using. At the same time, they warn of the risks with more powerful electric scooters, since modified devices can reach considerably higher speeds than young drivers are used to.
– We are concerned that serious accidents will occur. They have already been seen nationally. Accidents have increased sharply, says Henrik Gustavsson.
Source: Tekniikka & Talous
Source: Google News FI — Crime (fi)