Good news for enthusiasts of electric scooters, unicycles, hoverboards and other personal mobility devices (PMD) — the government has accepted proposals for them to be allowed on footpaths.
The bad news is that there’ll be heavier penalties, strict enforcement patrols and mandatory registrations for all PMD users.
Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo announced in Parliament that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will set up a dedicated enforcement team that’ll join the Traffic Police in patrolling PMT hotspots. Shared footpaths, crowded bus stops, parks and cycling paths will see officers using speed guns to identify those going way too fast to travel alongside pedestrians.
Electric bicycles will also have to be registered for more effective enforcement, said Teo. This would be in response to the frequency of illegally modified e-bikes that can travel at speeds of up to 40 to 70km/h, posing a safety hazard to both pedestrians and motorists. E-bikes can only be used on roads, and are not allowed on footpaths, which have a speed limit of 15km/h.
Concerning other relatively low-speed PMDs, it’ll be legal to use them on pavements as early as the end of this year.
