Parisians are voting on Sunday on whether to rid the streets of the French capital of electric scooters, although some say the city’s leaders ought to be focusing on more pressing issues. Paris was a pioneer when it introduced e-scooters, or trottinettes, in 2018 as the city’s authorities sought to promote non-polluting forms of urban transport. But as the two-wheeled vehicles grew in popularity, especially among young people, so did the number of accidents: in 2022, three people died and 459 were injured in e-scooter accidents in Paris. In what is being billed as a “public consultation” voters are being asked: “For or against self-service scooters?” Twenty-one polling stations have been set up across the city and will be open until 7pm local time, with the result expected at around 10pm. Although 1.6 million people are eligible to vote, turnout is expected to be low. Paris’s socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has promoted cycling and bike-sharing but supports a ban on e-scooters. In an interview with Agence France-Presses last week, Hidalgo said “self-service scooters are the source of tension and worry” for Parisians and that a ban would “reduce nuisance” in public spaces. However, she promised to respect the outcome of the vote even if it is not legally binding. Paris has almost 15,000 e-scooters across its streets, operated by companies including Lime, Dott and Tier. Detractors argue that e-scooter users disrespect the rules of the road and regularly flout a ban on riding on pavements. The vehicles are also often haphazardly parked or thrown into the River Seine. In June 2021, a 31-year-old Italian woman was killed after being hit by an e-scooter with two passengers onboard while walking along the Seine. “Scooters have become my biggest enemy. I’m scared of them,” Suzon Lambert, a 50-year-old teacher from Paris, told AFP. “Paris has become a sort of anarchy. There’s no space any more for pedestrians.” Another Parisian told BFMTV: “It’s dangerous, and people use them badly. I’m fed up.” Julian Sezgin, aged 15, said he often saw groups of two or three teenagers on e-scooters zooming past cars on busy roads. “I avoid going on e-scooters and prefer e-bikes as, in my opinion, they are safer and more efficient,” he told the Guardian. Bianca Sclavi, an Italian who has lived in Paris for years, said the scooters go “too fast” and should be mechanically limited so they go slower. “They are dangerous because they zip in and out of traffic,” she said. “However, it is not as bad as when they first arrived … the most dangerous are the drunk tourists!” She is not planning to cast a vote. “There are more serious matters right now – [what about] the rubbish? Pension reforms? Immigration? I don’t think it was such a good idea for Hidalgo to make such a big deal out of this. I really like what she is doing with the bike lanes, but she should not spend so much energy on the scooters.” However, Linda Joèlle, 35, spoke out against a ban. “Now that I have found an excellent way to get to work, and one that is better for the environment, they are trying to ban it,” she said. “They keep changing the rules.” One unnamed student supporting e-scooters told BFMTV: “I don’t live so close to the Métro and so it’s better to go to school on the e-scooter.” Another said: “Where I live, it’s better than going by foot.” The French transport minister, Clement Beaune, told Europe 1 radio last week that he expected the vote to result in a ban, adding that “the important consultation will be watched by a lot of other towns in France and overseas”. “I find it a shame that we have caricatured and dumbed down the debate,” he said, arguing that e-scooters are a valuable transport solution that have replaced up to one in five journeys in Paris that would previously have been made using pollution-emitting vehicles. Meanwhile, operators of e-scooters fear a ban would encourage other cities to follow suit. “Paris is going against the current,” Hadi Karam, the general manager for France at California-based Lime, told AFP, citing decisions to increase the number of e-scooters or extend contracts in Washington, Madrid and London.