An electric scooter rider in Paris has been killed after colliding with a lorry, days before the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, decides on whether to outlaw e-scooter rental fleets. The deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, told AFP on Thursday that while they were still discussing the problem, Hidalgo was leaning towards a ban that would make Paris one of a few big cities to implement such a ban. Accidents have risen as the popularity of free-floating fleets – where the scooters can be left or picked up anywhere – has soared, with 22 deaths in Paris last year, compared with seven in 2020. Critics say riders of the devices, promoted as a non-polluting alternative to cars or crowded public transport, show only cursory respect for the rules of the road, defying bans on riding on pavements. Other complaints related to inconsiderate parking and scooters abandoned in parks or tossed into the Seine. Paris cracked down a few years ago by limiting the number of operators to just three – Dott, Lime and Tier – and the total number of scooters to 15,000. In September, however, officials gave the companies one month to come up with measures to limit reckless riding and other “misuses” or risk a loss of their licences.