E-scooters on the road get thumbs down but not among the young

Scooters are considered to be a menace on the roads by a majority of respondents to a MaltaToday survey.

Asked whether they agree that scooters should be able to use the roads, 63.2% answered no, while 30.7% replied yes. The rest, 6.1%, are unsure.

But while resistance to scooters on the road is very high among those aged 36 and over, the majority of those aged between 16 and 35 have no problem with the issue.

The survey found that 54.5% of those in the youngest age group agree with scooters being used on the road, while 42% disagree.

Opposition to scooters is significantly high across all regions in Malta, whereas in Gozo the split is much less pronounced.

While 47.1% of Gozitans do not want electric scooters to use the road, 44.4% have no problem with them zooming on the roads.

In Malta, opposition to scooters varies from 60.4% in the Southern Harbour region to 73.9% in the South East.

Apart from Gozo, the path of least resistance for scooters can be found in the Northern region where 36.4% agree that they should be able to use the roads.

Electric scooters have boomed since the introduction of rental options by taxi service Bolt. Complaints have also mushroomed over the manner in which these are left parked on kerbs and beneath them, as well as the way they are driven on the roads.

However, they have also become an alternative transport means within urban areas, especially among young people.

Legislation mandates that electric scooters can be driven by people aged 18 and over with a valid driving licence.

The survey findings show that political allegiance does little to shift opinion on the matter - 61.5% and 68.7% of Labour and Nationalist voters respectively disagree with e-scooters and their use on the road.

Absolute majorities against scooters run across all educational backgrounds, however the least resistance is found among the tertiary educated.

Within the latter cohort, 50.4% disagree but 44.7% agree with scooter use on the roads.

Methodology

The survey was carried out between Wednesday 25 August 2021 and Thursday 2 September 2021. 651 respondents opted to complete the survey. Stratified random sampling based on region, age and gender was used to replicate the Maltese demographic.

The estimated margin of error is 4.9% for a confidence interval of 95% for the overall results. Demographic and sub-group breakdowns have significantly larger margins of error.