Prosecutor calling for tighter controls. | Pere Bota

TW
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The state prosecutor for road safety, Bartolomé Vargas, has sent instruction to local police forces to intensify alcohol and drugs controls of cyclists and users of scooters. In this instruction, he says that police should act with "greater rigour" in immobilising or taking away these vehicles if they are a risk.

Vargas is calling for more publicity so that cyclists and users of personal mobility vehicles (PMVs) "know that they have to respect the rules". He intends promoting legislative amendment to make insurance obligatory for bikes and PMVs. Along with insurers and businesses, he is studying formulas for insurance cover in case of accidents. Vargas is highlighting the "irresponsibility" of cyclists and PMV users who have no insurance and who therefore load costs on to people who are injured.

The prosecutor has told police forces that they should investigate the cause of accidents and whether there is any insurance. He has issued a reminder that a cyclist or PMV user who is guilty of reckless homicide can be jailed for up to nine years, while sentences for causing injury are, depending on the nature of injury, up to six years and nine months.

There is, Vargas has added, "indiscriminate" sale of mopeds, bikes and PMVs that do not comply with regulations. As an example, some scooters have no precautionary features, and this is an infringement of the legislation.