Unleashing a swarm of e-scooters has made safety worse – Eve Borg Bonello

Transportation is among the leading causes of carbon emissions globally. Cars and other vehicles that operate on fossil fuel have become less welcome features of cities across Europe.

Their emissions are unwelcome not only for their contribution to climate change but because emissions have a real impact on the well-being of city inhabitants. Noise pollution is also detrimental and the infrastructure needed for cars is costly, takes up a lot of space and requires costly and frequent maintenance.

So it makes sense to start moving toward alternative means of transport that is cheaper, more accessible, emit no harmful chemicals and that can exist in more people-friendly cities with improved and cleaner public e-scooters.

Capitals like Paris and Brussels have pedestrianised areas that used to be busy roads. And another, smaller vehicle has made a definite appearance in both: electric scooters.

But Malta is not Paris or Brussels. What works somewhere else doesn’t necessarily work here. We should prepare to include alternative means of transport, like e-scooters. But the trial run of allowing e-scooters to roam our streets without proper regulation and enforcement was a failure.

Until...