How many fines are issued to electric scooter riders in Malaga every day? And how many accidents are they involved in?

Fines, accidents and inspections involving personal mobility vehicles, mostly scooters, represent a striking part of the daily work of the Local Police in Malaga city. Up to October this year, there were 2,072 incidents reported by the Local Police, which equates to more than seven a day, according to figures provided by the city hall to SUR.

The data shows that the number of accidents reached their highest levels in the summer months: when there were 78, with a peak of 29 in July. And more than 80 per cent of these accident are the fault of the rider, who is usually young. Throughout the whole of 2022, Malaga city registered 4,176 urban traffic accidents, of which 210 involved an electric scooter – around 5% of the total.

The average number of daily fines issued involving scooters is close to seven, with parking outside the permitted areas (there are 50 in the city) being the reason for 995 penalty notices.

The next main reason for a user to be fined (210 incidents), is for riding on the pavement or on a pedestrian zone. Fines were handed out on 147 occasions for two people sharing a ride on a scooter and 89 users were fined for skipping a red light.

In total more than 10% of offences involving electric scooters were in relation to jumping a traffic light. And 7% were due to riding on a footpath, or pedestrian zone, changing lane on a road (often due to the poor surface) and lack of expertise of the user.

Other fines were handed out for riding while using a mobile phone or similar (20), driving in the wrong direction (20), riding using headphones (14) or negligent driving (7). Finally, there were some such as not wearing a protective helmet, exceeding the alcohol limitl, or not giving pedestrians priority.

Local Police also noted that when users were reported they cite lack of sleep, tiredness or illness as reasons for their poor riding.

The data also shows that motorcycles – used in 7% of motorised transport journeys – still represent a far greater threat on the city roads. They are involved in 27% of incidents, which is five times higher than those with scooters. However, the motorcycle accident trend is downward.