Child’s scooter death raises questions

The decease of a 13-year-old lad riding an electrical scooter successful Makrisia, successful southwestern Greece’s Ilia region, has renewed statement implicit whether children beneath a definite property should beryllium barred from utilizing the vehicles.

The lad was killed aft helium seemingly swerved to debar a parked vehicle and collided head-on with a workplace truck. He aboriginal died from his injuries.

The tragedy – on with different scooter-related incidents – has intensified scrutiny of information rules under Greece’s caller traffic code. Specialists accidental regulations beryllium but are often ignored.

“The images are indescribable. They thrust astatine nighttime with a flashlight successful their mouth, while we person struggled for years to present traffic acquisition successful schools,” said Aris Zografos, president of the Panhellenic Association of Driving Instructors and Traffic Education.

Zografos said galore parents cannot explicate why they bargain scooters for young children. “A 13-year-old kid cannot negociate traffic without learning the basal rules of the road,” helium said, adding that scooters were primitively intended for abbreviated municipality trips linked to sustainable mobility plans, not arsenic toys.

Under the caller traffic code, e-scooter riders indispensable beryllium astatine slightest 12 years old. Scooter speeds indispensable not transcend 6 km/h, while those traveling betwixt 6 and 25 km/h are treated likewise to bicycles. They are besides barred from roads where speed limits transcend 50 km/h.

Police recorded 140 scooter incidents successful 2025, including two fatal crashes.

Professor George Giannis of the National Technical University of Athens opposed outright bans, asking, “Should we prohibition circulation due to the fact that 1 idiosyncratic broke the law?” He said stricter security rules could amended order. Transportation technologist Panagiotis Tzouras said schools should teach traffic rules and present a “mobility license” earlier children are allowed to unlock shared scooters for use connected nationalist streets safely.