RESPONSIBILITY OF PERSONS WHO DRIVE LIGHT PERSONAL ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Abstract

In the context of reforming Ukrainian legislation governing road traffic rules and safety, as well as administrative and criminal legislation providing for liability for violations of established rules by road users, it is important to review the existing regulatory framework and legislative basis for road safety. This directly concerns the scientific analysis of the expediency (inadvisability) of bringing administrative or criminal liability for driving a light personal electric vehicle that caused harm to the life and health of other road users. The article is devoted to the analysis of the legal status of light personal electric vehicles and the peculiarities of bringing to justice for offenses committed during their use. It has been established that the current legislation does not define the rights and obligations of persons driving light personal electric vehicles, which complicates the classification of administrative and criminal offenses and leads to conflicts in law enforcement. Improvements to regulatory framework are proposed to ensure road safety and consistency in judicial practice. It has been shown that despite the growing use of electric scooters and other types of electric transport, the current legislation of Ukraine does not contain consistent rules regarding their legal regime, nor does it define the rights and obligations of persons who operate them. This results in regulatory uncertainty, which complicates the classification of offenses committed during the operation of light personal electric vehicles and leads to discrepancies in judicial practice. A set of legislative changes has been proposed: clarification of the concept of a light personal electric vehicle with an emphasis on technical parameters; the introduction of the status of “driver of a light personal electric vehicle” into the Traffic Rules; improvement of the definition of the concept of “driver”; the formation of a separate list of rights and obligations of users of light personal electric vehicles or the extension of general rules to them. The implementation of the proposed changes will help eliminate legal uncertainty and ensure uniformity in the enforcement of road safety laws.