Police in Switzerland confiscate 144 km/h e-scooter
By Jan de Boer
Last Monday, Swiss police in Geneva confiscated an e-scooter that would seem right at home on the set of Fast and Furious. After testing the device, they found that it was able to reach speeds in excess of 140 kilometres per hour.
Swiss police confiscate modified e-scooter
At a press conference, the city police of Geneva confirmed that they had gotten their hands on an extremely modified - and illegal - e-scooter. The emergency services first noticed the e-scooter driving past on the Rue Voltaire on the morning of July 15.
City police spokesperson Christophe Nardo told 20 Minuten that while “the driver was not speeding…the imposing size of the machine caught the eye of the police officer." The scooter was then taken off the road, and the authorities used a mobile speedometer to check how fast the vehicle could really go.
E-scooter could reach speeds of over 140 kilometres per hour
Instead of the 20 kilometres an hour limit that is enforced on e-scooters in Switzerland, the device was able to reach a top speed of 144 kilometres per hour, meaning the device could travel quite happily on the motorway, were the prospect not equal parts dangerous and illegal. The find in Geneva is the second fastest e-scooter ever caught in French-speaking Switzerland, only 4 kilometres an hour slower than the record holder which was confiscated in Fribourg in 2023.
Geneva cantonal police spokesperson Aline Dard explained that “a priori, scooters of such power were bought abroad” and heavily modified so that they can achieve insane speeds. They warned that anyone caught with an illegal scooter can face fines of hundreds of francs - even if they are not caught speeding - and their souped-up two-wheelers can be impounded and even scrapped, incurring yet more costs. In this case, the scooter will be destroyed.
Nardo said that while the 144-kilometre-an-hour e-scooter was exceptional, they “regularly come across e-scooters that exceed federal legal standards.” Police confirmed that they would be carrying out regular checks for illegal scooters "particularly in areas where there are many pedestrians, such as the quays and the Jardin Anglais…these machines must drive on cycle lanes and paths; on sidewalks, it is prohibited."
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Jan studied History at the University of York and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield. Though born in York, Jan has lived most of his life in Zurich and has worked as a journalist, writer and editor since 2016.
While he has plunged head-first back into life in Switzerland since returning to the country in 2020, he still enjoys a taste of home at pub quizzes and karaoke nights.Read more