Majority of Germans dislike e-scooters, mention road safety concerns

A majority of Germans have a poor opinion of e-powered scooters, while many have never used one themselves, according to a survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of dpa.

A little over half (51%) of adults in Germany have a rather or even very negative attitute towards the vehicles, while 61% of respondents think that road safety has deteriorated since e-scooters were allowed on the German roads in 2019.

Only 5% report an improvement, and for 25% there has been no change.

Another 76% of respondents think that e-scooters should be parked in specially designated parking spaces, with 13% in favour the roadside and 12% the pavement as parking spaces.

At the moment, there are no designated parking spaces for rental scooters - which can be found in massive numbers in large and medium-sized cities - causing problems for elderly and visually impaired people in particular.

"Older people have massive problems" due to incorrectly parked scooters, said Jens-Peter Kruse from the German National Association of Senior Citizens' Organizations.

"In some cases, the e-scooters have been parked in such a way that it is downright provocative - across the cycle path, across the footpath," Kruse explained.

"This is a very big danger for people with impaired vision, but also for all people who use this cycle path in the dark."

The German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired is currently starting lawsuits in Bremen, Münster and Berlin "to enforce fixed parking spaces on pavements," says deputy executive director Christiane Möller.