Mobility scooters and Segways along with all electric vehicles cannot be used on pavements according to a clarification on the current law from the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), who have responded to numerous enquiries from councils across Spain. But to make things more complicated, the use of these electric powered vehicles can be regulated under local council laws, which means that each municipality can have the last word on the matter, until a new national law can be passed.
There are plenty of examples around the Costa Blanca where there are variations or just plain confusion as to who can do what. Benidorm passed an ordinance a few years ago to regulate the use of mobility scooters, and they say they will now extend the rules to electric skates and Segways. Alicante City says that they don’t know what they will do in the light of the DGT ruling, whilst Torrevieja council’s view is that they ought to wait for new national legislation. Councillor Javier Manzanares told the Información newspaper that it would be more dangerous for mobility scooter users, who are mainly elderly people, to be forced to use the roads as opposed to the pavements, not helped either by the fact that there are no substantial cycle way routes in the city.
