MOSCOW, June 17 (RAPSI) - Electric scooter related collisions are on the increase in Russia this year, according to the Interior Ministry’s spokesperson Irina Volk.

The number of such traffic accidents in January through May 2021 increased nearly by 195% as compared to the same period of the previous year,she stated.

This year, 24 electric scooter related accidents were recorded in Moscow, 22 in St. Petersburg, 12 in the Krasnodar Region, 7 in Tatarstan and 6 in the Sverdlovsk Region. In the first five months of 2021, 2 persons died in such collisions and 119 were injured, Volk added.

Earlier, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation called on the Transport and Interior Ministries to accelerate the development of measures aimed at regulating the use of electric scooters. 

It is necessary to assess the problem comprehensively, paying attention also to the actions of companies that provide electric scooters for rent. Such work is already being actively carried out in some regions, for instance, only in St. Petersburg eight incidents involving e-scooters have been already recorded; with relation to six of them there have been opened and are investigated criminal cases, the statement read. 

The department states that electric scooters are sources of increased danger. According to the statistics of the Interior Ministry, ten people have died in Russia as victims of accidents with electric scooters over 2 years. Moreover, there have been registered numerous cases of injury to citizens, including both electric scooters users and bystanders in pedestrian zones where owners of e-scooters often drive freely.