To end the year and start the next, return, every day, to the articles of the Techni Club, the most consulted cities in 2020 over the months. Today, focus on September, and legal analysis of a decree concerning the use of electric scooters.
New mandatory equipment
A scooter, a Segway, a hoverboard … Since 1 st July 2020, all motorized moving vehicle must be equipped with new equipment:
front and rear lights
rear and side retro-reflective devices
a brake
an audible warning device.
A period had been allowed to allow equipment manufacturers and owners of such machines to equip themselves.
The decree of June 24, 2020, defines the characteristics of the compulsory lighting devices on these vehicles. Note also the decree of the same day relating to the high visibility vest, retro-reflective equipment, and additional lighting device worn by the driver of a motorized personal transport vehicle.
A contravention of 1 st class is incurred for each finding of lighting or signaling defect referred to in Article R.313-1 4 th paragraph (fixed fine of € 11 – NATINF 33348).
The braking device, provided for a new Article R. 315-7 of the Highway Code, is stipulated by the Decree of 21 July 2020. Failure text is sanctioned in a ticket for 1 st class.
Concerning the audible warning device, article R.313-33 of the Highway Code specifies that any motorized personal transport vehicle, like any cycle “must be fitted with a warning device consisting of a bell or a bell whose sound can be heard at least 50 meters away. The use of any other sound signal is prohibited”. The specifics of the buzzer for motorized EDP are specified in the decree of 22 July 2020. The offense is a contravention of 1 st class as for cycles.
New dimension obligations
Since 1 st July 2020, Article R.312-10 of the Highway Code is supplemented to clarify that the maximum width of 0.90 meters for vehicles of motorized personal travel. The same goes for articles R.312-11 which sets the maximum length for motorized personal transport vehicles at 1.35 meters. Failure to respect the dimensions is sanctioned by a 4th class fine (or more depending on the excess for the length).
What compulsory insurance?
If the highway code now has a definition of Displacement Vehicle (EDP) and regulates the traffic conditions of these vehicles, there is still some vagueness concerning insurance. Nothing in the decree of October 2019 refers to the insurance code.
Article L.211-1 of the Insurance Code specifies that “any natural person or any legal person other than the State, whose civil liability may be incurred as a result of damage suffered by third parties resulting from attacks on persons or goods in which a vehicle is involved must, to circulate it, be covered by insurance guaranteeing this liability”. The vehicles concerned are “any land motor vehicle, that is to say, any self-propelled vehicle intended to travel on the ground and which can be actuated by mechanical force without being linked to a railway track” (same article). According to article R.311-1 (6.14) of the Highway Code, since October 2019, the motorized EDP (EDPM) is indeed a vehicle and would therefore be affected by Article L.211-1 of the Insurance Code.
Ministerial confirmation
A ministerial response of February 27, 2020, specifies that “the Government wished to recall the insurance obligation to which users of electric scooters are subject”, unlike non-motorized EDPs such as scooters and electric-assisted bicycles.
Specific insurance?
According to the ministerial response, driving a motorized EDP may very well be covered by the multi-risk home drivers liability contract. The latter would be invited to check that their contract covers the motorized EDP or failing that, to take out a specific contract.
The guarantee by the civil liability insurance (RC) home is however far from being so obvious if one believes the insurance companies ( site of the national association of the users of electric micro-mobility). This point deserves to be confirmed.
What about the insurance certificate?
There is also the question of controlling the compulsory insurance. The Insurance Code provides that an insurance certificate must be affixed to vehicles including two or three wheels. In the latter case, for example for a motorcycle, the two-sided certificate must be visible “on the outside on a surface located in front of the plane formed by the front fork of the vehicles” (article A211-10 of the French Code of insurance). But nothing is said for “home” insurance which would provide coverage (according to the ministry), nor for monowheels which do not include a fork… Consequently, the control seems more complicated for the enforcement officers.
It would be wise to advise EDPM drivers to have proof of insurance with them (as for categorized dogs see page 21 of the 2010 circular ) in the absence of a sticker stuck on their vehicle …
In any case, the control can only be done in the presence of the owner or the driver of the EDPM, since there is no registration for these vehicles. Article 18 of the 2019 decree specifies that the provisions of article R.322-1 of the highway code do not apply to motorized vehicles which are therefore not subject to any obligation of registration.