Municipalities in Brussels municipalities are considering measures that would restrict the use of e-scooters in areas that are affected by drug dealing. The exact nature and extent of the measures have yet to be finalised.
The Brussels regional news platform reports that on Thursday the Chair of the Conference of Brussels Mayors Benoît Cerexhe (Francophone centrist) said that the Brussels-Capital Region’s 19 Mayors are expected to decide next Wednesday on whether a working party should be set up to draw up measures to limit the use of e-scooters in drug crime hotspots. Several weeks ago, Brussels’ Chief Prosecutor Julien Moinil asked the Conference of Mayors to identify the users of shared e-scooters in drug crime hotspots. Mr Moinil says that the scooters are used both by dealers and hitmen that work for drug gangs. Earlier this week, the Chief Prosecutor sent a letter to Mr Cerexhe highlighting the growing number of road traffic accidents involving shared e-scooters.
Mr Cerexhe says that while he favours measures to more effectively identify users of the scooters, he does not favour a ban on their uses in certain areas at certain times (for example in the evening and/or at night).
However, in an interview with the Francophone region broadcaster BX1, the Francophone socialist mayor of Saint-Gillis Jean Spinette (PS), expressed stronger support for a ban on shared scooters in hotspots. However, Mr Spinette, whose municipality contains several drug hotspots, is not in favour of restrictions on the use of private scooters. Although he does think that they should be registered.
The Brussels regional MP Sofia Bennani (Francophone centrist) is in favour of a ban on the use of e-scooters between 10pm and 5am in municipalities that are worst affected by drug crime. These are the municipalities of Anderlecht, Schaarbeek, Sint-Gillis, Vorst and Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. She warns that limitting an e-scooter ban to hotspots could result in simply moving the problem on to somewhere else. Ms Bennani advocates an exemption for night-shift workers who rely on scooters to get to work.