Déjà vu or a parallel universe? “Arona to ban scooters” – again

[Janet]

Only last week Arona explained that its clampdown on electric scooters would see fines and confiscations for use in pedestrian areas unless they were ridden by a disabled person at walking pace. Now, Adeje has joined Arona and announced that it has passed its own decree banning electric vehicles on footpaths, pedestrian zones and public spaces. The new decree overturns the council's 2014 bylaw awarding licences to rent the machines, and reverts to the previous order that regulated use of public spaces and mobility devices for those with disabilities.

The decree has been approved and published in the BOC, and has now been activated, with the local police and relevant authorities adopting coordinated measures to monitor and control the new regulations.  The local police now have specific orders to denounce and impose fines on individuals renting these machines as well as on companies who refuse to comply with the new law.

Adeje's decision has been taken following a number of reports from the local tourism department and local police, as well as many complaints from both residents and tourists about these vehicles in pedestrian zones being driven without even basic consideration for the public, and resulting in some cases in injury and material damage. The council says that the use of these machines became completely imcompatible with conviviality or coexistence.

On Monday last week, Arona Ayuntamiento announced that it had met with some twenty local businesses from both Arona and Adeje which rent out these scooters and explained the reasons behind its forthcoming clampdown. The council stressed that its bylaws specify that these vehicles may only be used in pedestrian areas, and only by those with a temporary or permanent disability which reduces their mobility. The council says that it has already confiscated more than 300 scooters in the last year – 30 over the last month alone – and that controls will now be tightened to ensure that the vehicles are legal and that they don't pose a risk to pedestrians.

The new measures are in the final stages of being approved but are being enforced already. They will also apply to bicycles on pavements as already covered by the bylaw. For the council, the meeting was attended by Arona's acting mayor José Antonio Reverón, works and services councillor José Luis González, tourism councillor David Pérez, and finance councillor Raquel García. They said that Arona, for its part, has not actually granted specific licences for this activity, the businesses being allowed to operate by permits which will now be reviewed. What the position is in Adeje is not yet clear, but out of the twenty businesses represented at the meeting, only three were from Arona, while seventeen were from Adeje municipality.

The council also clarified that those vehicles confiscated for driving – in what must be a pedestrian area and by someone who must be of reduced mobility – faster than a walking pace, which is the speed limit imposed by the bylaw, will not be returned. Tourism councillor Pérez said that the council regretted the personal circumstances of the businesses present, but the principal requirement was public order safety – and that it was hardly something that they couldn't have known about. The council has spent weeks, he said, studying the current situation to draw up the new regulations, including usage and the sanctions which can be imposed.

[Perikles]

The council also clarified that those vehicles confiscated for driving – in what must be a pedestrian area and by someone who must be of reduced mobility – faster than a walking pace, which is the speed limit imposed by the bylaw, will not be returned.

Whilst I applaud this, it would be interesting to see how this would stand up in court if an owner challenged it. All they have is the opinion of a jumped-up traffic warden one of our respected local police, and I bet without any form of machine to measure speed. Would the Town Hall have the right to sell the machine, or keep it parked indefinitely?

Not only that, the owner is probably the person who hired it out to a tourist who has long since disappeared, so it does seem a bit hard. On the other hand, its street value wil be zero after this clampdown.

Still - a good development.

[TOTO 99]

Surely the first job would be to regulate the machines so that they will only go at walking pace?

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Whilst I applaud this, it would be interesting to see how this would stand up in court if an owner challenged it. All they have is the opinion of a jumped-up traffic warden one of our respected local police, and I bet without any form of machine to measure speed.

Easy.  Mobile phone video.  You need to see the speed at which these assholes come at you and disappear at the speed of sound.