STVO causes problems

St. Pölten wants to ban e-scooters from the city center

E-scooters could soon disappear completely from St. Pölten's pedestrian zone.

(Bild: ©InsideCreativeHouse - stock.adobe.com)

After a child was knocked over and seriously injured in the pedestrian zone, St. Pölten wants to ban e-scooters from the city center for good. However, road traffic regulations have put a spanner in the works for the time being.

It was the sad culmination of a long-standing problem in St. Pölten: Around a month ago, as reported, Elina (9) was knocked down in the pedestrian zone by an e-scooter driver under the influence of drugs and at hellish speed. While the girl is still struggling with the consequences of the fractured femur, the town hall is now going on the offensive. They want to ban e-scooters in the city center.

E-scooter = bicycle
But that's not so easy, because the current German Road Traffic Act (StVO) puts electric scooters and bicycles on an equal footing. In other words, if e-scooters are banned, bicycles cannot be ridden through the pedestrian zone at walking pace as before. And you don't actually want to drive cyclists away. "If we want the city center to be traffic-calmed, we need other means of transport, but these require a certain degree of responsibility," says SPÖ municipal councillor Michael Kögl, explaining why bikes should continue to be seen in the pedestrian zone.

The municipal council therefore passed a resolution calling on the federal government to abolish this equation in the StVO. Only the ÖVP abstained. "The offender should already have been driving slowly. Even an amendment would not have stopped him," City Councillor Florian Krumböck is certain. He also points out other problems that could arise from the separation of e-scooters and bicycles. "E-scooters would no longer be allowed to ride on cycle paths, but would have to be on the road. That all needs to be clarified legally," says Krumböck.