OPINION: ‘I’m glad Marbella is cracking down on e-scooters – but I wish they’d BAN them’

I’m all for sustainable transport, but e-scooters are increasingly making my blood boil.

Whether you’re in your car, walking on the street or along a beach promenade, no one is safe from the scourge of these silent potential death traps.

I understand the two-wheeled devices can be a cheaper mode of transport for those who can’t afford cars, but it’s not the hard-working cleaner going to and from work that’s the problem.

It’s the idiotic teenagers piling up to three people on one scooter and weaving alongside cars on roads.

When in your car, you cannot hear or see them coming – I can’t tell you how many times a kid on a scooter has zoomed in front of me while I am turning a corner or approaching a zebra crossing.

Not to mention that they don’t wear a helmet 99% of the time.

Meanwhile, on the pavements, they come zooming past at 25km/hr (or faster) without warning, one step in the wrong direction and your leg or ankle is toast – or worse.

In fact, several pedestrians have been killed after being struck by e-scooters, including a 90-year-old woman in Madrid.

As usual in Andalucia, the laws are not clear and are rarely enforced. The infractions made by e-scooter riders are daily and numerous in Marbella alone.

It doesn’t help that each municipality is creating its own rules on the vehicles down to the minute details such as whether a helmet is mandatory or not (as if that should ever be in question).

Just last week a mother and daughter on e-scooters (sans helmets) were in front of our car for a good 10 minutes, causing a snaking queue of cars behind us.

Without sounding like a bitter old man, the fact is that e-scooters are a pain in the neck and dangerous.

It’s no wonder Paris voted to ban rental e-scooters entirely earlier this year, while Oslo also took them off the pavements.

I’m glad Marbella is getting tougher on rule breakers, I just wish the things were removed from roads and pavements altogether.