Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1411841
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 SEPTEMBER 2021 NEWS KURT SANSONE 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 ma- jority 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 signif- icantly 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 South- ern 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 re- gion 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. Com- plaints have also mushroomed over the manner in which these are left parked on kerbs and be- neath them, as well as the way they are driven on the roads. However, they have also be- come an alternative transport means within urban areas, espe- cially among young people. Legislation mandates that elec- tric 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 respective- ly disagree with e-scooters and their use on the road. Absolute majorities against scooters run across all educa- tional 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 be- tween Wednesday 25 August 2021 and Thursday 2 September 2021. 651 respondents opted to complete the survey. Stratified random sampling based on re- gion, age and gender was used to replicate the Maltese demo- graphic. The estimated margin of error is 4.9% for a confidence interval of 95% for the overall results. De- mographic and sub-group break- downs have significantly larger margins of error. E-scooters on the road get thumbs down but not among the young