When riding an electric scooter, are you permitted to use a telephone that requires you to hold the handset or microphone in your hand?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
NO
Explanation
In the photo a woman is riding an electric scooter, holding a phone to her ear. When riding an electric scooter, you are not allowed to use a phone that requires holding the handset or microphone in your hand. The answer is: no.
The Road Traffic Act prohibits the driver of a vehicle from using, while driving, a phone that requires holding the handset or microphone in the hand. The rule applies to the driver of every vehicle, and an electric scooter is a vehicle within the meaning of the Act - so the ban applies to its rider exactly as it does to a car driver. On a scooter this is even more dangerous: one hand on the handlebars means you cannot use both brakes or keep your balance on a bump or in a sudden turn, and the conversation takes your attention away from pedestrians and cars. Only a hands-free kit or a wireless earpiece is allowed, although these are also distracting. A practical rule: if you want to talk, you stop on the pavement, out of the way of pedestrians. For talking on a phone held in your hand on a scooter, the law provides for a fine, the same as for a car driver.
Legal basis: Art. 45 para. 2 point 1 and Art. 2 point 47b of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)