Singapore's road fatality rate of 2.73 per 100,000 citizens is higher than in Hong Kong, London and Tokyo. Now, the government has decided to ban the e-scooters from the footpath from Tuesday, November 5 to ensure public safety. It should be noted that if anyone found breaking the new rules, the offender will face a fine up to $2,000 and/or a jail term up to three months.
The use of such vehicles remains banned on roads but Singaporean can use these devices on cycling paths and park connector networks. From Tuesday, until the end of the year, the authorities will mainly issue warnings to errant riders, but a zero-tolerance approach will be taken from 2020. All the users of these vehicles should know that e-scooters will be confined to 440 km of cycling paths islandwide, instead of 5,500 km that footpath riders could use before. The ban will be extended to other motorised personal mobility devices or PMDs in the first quarter of 2020, including hoverboards and unicycles. It should be mentioned that currently there are 100,000 registered e-scooters in Singapore.
In a Parliamentary proceeding Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min said on Monday that in the past two years the government put in great efforts to promote the safe use of motorised personal mobility devices but "Despite significant efforts, we continue to encounter errant riders who use non-compliant devices and ride dangerously." He announced that changes while responding to the questions came from five MPs that also includes Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir), who asked about the Transport Ministry's plans to improve safety levels around the use of PMDs, which involves not only e-scooters but also hoverboards and unicycles. But in recent years most of the road accidents and traffic offences raised concerns over the usage of e-scooters.
Other measures on e-scooters:
During the parliamentary proceeding one of the member, Liang Eng Hwa asked that "While I support the government's decision to ban the PMDs on pathways, I am also little concerned about how this will impact the food delivery business." He also asked that how this ban will affect the PMD riders who are actually dependent top these vehicles to earn a living "Whether they will assistant measure to help them or also continue to have a way to do their business."
In response the Transport Minister stated that "We share the same concern." In addition he said "We have been engaging the three major food delivery companies," who shared that less than 30% of deliveries were done using PMDs. He also mentioned that the authorities would also be encouraging these companies to switch to motorcycles or bicycles. For riders who are not able to make the switch, he added that MOT would work together with the companies and WSG to find alternatives for them.
