Going nowhere fast

It's green, but boy, is it mean: the escalating civil war over footpaths. Bikes, e-scooters and even stately paced mobility scooters are causing injury and aggro, facilitating crime at increasing rates worldwide, with various countries introducing controls.

- By Jane Clifton

It's likely nowhere is this taken more seriously than in Slovakia, where a maximum speed will next year be set for all footpath users, wheeled, bipedal or quadra-pedal. It's 6km/h. No exceptions.

Slovakia has deemed this an acceptable walking speed, which bikes and e-bikes in particular should not exceed for safety's sake.

In the capital, Bratislava, population 475,000, nearly 300 pavement injuries have been reported this year, most caused by e-scooters.

Trouble is, 6km/h is a fairly pedestrian speed even for pedestrians. It would barely elevate most people's heart rate to a metabolically beneficial state, and pretty much proscribes even a quick dash for the bus.

For comparison, “quick march” walking speed is 7-9km/h (military marchers lumping 25kg average 7.4km/h). Mobility scooters can do at least 18km/h, though most jurisdictions have legal limits well below that.

And there is absolutely no control mechanism for the velocity a suddenly hurtling toddler is capable of attaining.