Bill was delivered to the Legislative Assembly. Almost 2 thousand accidents. Fines can reach R$150.
O PSD delivered a bill to Parliament to make mandatory or use of helmet and equipment reflector for all users of scooters e electric bicycleswith fines between 30 and 150 euros for violators.
The diploma intends to amend the Traffic Code and reinforce “the safety rules applicable to electric micromobility”.
In the explanatory memorandum, the Social Democrats cite recent data from the GNR: in the last 7 years there have been more than 1,900 accidents involving electric scooters, resulting in ten fatalities, 88 serious injuries and 1,442 minor injuries.
Helmet
The first change in the Brazilian Traffic Code involves the mandatory use of helmets for users of electric scooters and bicycles, which currently only applies to some categories with greater power or speed – and It’s hard to see the border current.
PSD deputies consider that electric micromobility vehicles “have a different risk profile than conventional bicycles”, due to their higher average speed, their driving position or the direct exposure of the user.
“Available studies associate the use of a helmet with a lower probability of head injury and better clinical results in accidents with electric bicycles”, they also highlight.
Reflective materials
The second change that the PSD wants to introduce in the Traffic Code involves the mandatory use of reflective materials at night or in low visibility by users of electric micromobility vehicles.
“The Portuguese regime already provides for requirements regarding the visibility of the vehicle (…) However, there is a lack of an autonomous obligation regarding the driver’s personal visibility in situations of greater risk”, he explains.
The diploma clarifies that this obligation “does not presuppose the use of a high-visibility reflective vest”, leaving to the ordinance the definition of the materials that will be required of users of these vehicles “from dusk to dawn and whenever, during the day, meteorological or environmental conditions make visibility insufficient”.
Fines
For defaulters, the PSD proposes a “less serious administrative framework, set between 30 euros and 150 euros”.
“The solution is proportional to the nature of the infractions and consistent with the treatment already provided for in the Traffic Code for infractions relating to bicycles”, writes the PSD.
“Finally”
Among the reactions, the He arrives agrees with the idea but has doubts about its applicability to scooters and electric bicycles shared in the main urban areas.
O PS criticizes this PSD proposal: it claims that this obligation creates obstacles to mobility.
The ACP – Automóvel Club de Portugal remembers that it has been defending this measure for a long time. But “better late than never”.
The ACP considers this obligation essential: “It is late, but fortunately it has entered Parliament”, Carlos Barbosa, president of the ACP.
“Just go to Alcoitão (rehabilitation center), or the hospitals, to see the number of people who are there because they didn’t wear a helmet”, continues Carlos Barbosa.
