An innovation important for traffic safety and user education has been installed in the electric scooters of the transportation service platform "Bolt" in Lithuania. From now on, all of them will be able to recognize cases where more than one person is trying to ride a scooter. It is expected that the important information given to the road user in advance will help to avoid one of the most dangerous situations when driving electric scooters, and at the same time - and unfortunate events. For their part, the police emphasize that it is important to encourage the responsible attitude of parents, grandparents, other relatives, and guardians, because minors are also injured in traffic accidents involving electric scooters.
The world's first such security solution detects a sudden change in the passenger's weight and sends a warning message to the user in the platform's app. Although the innovation is presented as an educational one, having accurate data on the totality of these violations will allow the platform's developers to improve preventive traffic safety measures more precisely.
"Traveling with one electric scooter in two is really not a good idea. This is also prohibited by the Road Traffic Rules, but most cases happen more out of ignorance than malice. In addition, a bad example on the road can be contagious, and it is not so often possible to discipline such traffic offenders. From now on, anyone who plans to take a passenger on the scooter will receive a friendly warning in the Bolt app", asserts Eimantas Balta, Bolt electric scooter development manager in the Baltic countries.
According to him, first of all, the new function was created for educational purposes: "Every road user should know how to use their vehicle safely, but even the most experienced will benefit from a reminder or discipline received in real time", E. Balta is convinced. He is seconded by the police officers who are constantly monitoring the situation.
"There is no question of riding an electric scooter for two, because it does not have a special seat for a passenger. Police officers evaluate such a violation of road traffic rules extremely strictly. Explanations of individuals "We wanted to try", "It's interesting after all", "Nothing will happen", "My little one wanted to ride along", etc. absolutely unjustified. In this way, not only yourself, but also others are at risk," emphasizes Vytautas Grašys, head of the Lithuanian Traffic Police Service. According to him, it is very cool that such an ecological vehicle - the electric scooter - is becoming popular, but those who use it must understand that they must act responsibly when participating in public traffic. Police officers constantly control the behavior of road users on the road, and those using electric scooters are no exception.
The statistics of traffic accidents involving electric scooters in 2021 are alarming. The police registered 200 such incidents, in which 209 persons were injured, fortunately, human casualties were avoided. Compared to 2020 and 2019, the mentioned figures have increased by two and three times, respectively. Bolt's representatives point out that the number of electric scooter trips on the mentioned platform alone is growing tenfold, so the number of accidents per 1,000 scooter trips is decreasing every year. It is expected that this and the safety innovations planned in the near future will reduce the number of accidents precisely through the involvement of the users themselves.
Until now, one of the main safety functions of electric scooters operating in Lithuania is the smart speed limit, adapted specifically for safe traffic in the city and its different zones. According to E. Balta, the new security function will primarily help to assess the extent of the problem of two-wheelers in different cities of Lithuania, as it will be known about each such case and how many of them are repeated.
V. Grashys says that it is very important that socially responsible business companies actively cooperate with the police and take innovative solutions to ensure the safety of road users. The signed cooperation agreement with "Bolt" allows for joint actions to form a positive attitude towards human values (morality, respect, responsibility, health and fragility of life), to encourage road users to behave responsibly on the road, to follow the rules of the road, to respect each other, while increasing the safety of all road users road safety and reducing traffic accidents in which people are injured.
Currently, Bolt scooters are used in Lithuania by residents of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys, Šiauliai, Alytus, Marijampole, Mažeikiai, Kėdainiai, Tauragė, Trakai and guests of these cities.
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