The Provincial Court of Murcia considers that an electric scooter is not a motor vehicle and acquitted the driver of the offence for which he had been convicted of driving without a licence.
The Murcia Provincial Court has acquitted a man who was convicted of driving an electric scooter after having lost all his driving licence points. The court upheld the appeal filed by the defendant against the sentence of the Criminal Court number one of Lorca, which imposed a fine of twelve months, for a total of 1,200 euros.
The court considers that there are "serious doubts" that these electric devices can be considered as a motor vehicle and, therefore, it is not clear that their use could give rise to the commission of an offence against road safety.
The judges argue that the doubts about the legal qualification of the scooters cannot be resolved to the detriment of the accused on the basis of the "in dubio pro reo" principle that governs all criminal proceedings, including speedy trials. The court also says that neither can it be stated "categorically" that the so-called urban scooters or electric scooters can be considered as a normal moped, "in the absence of expert evidence in this regard, and only with mere assessments of their characteristics".
The Murcia Court's interpretation contrasts with a recent ruling by the Provincial Court of Cáceres, which ruled that electric scooters that exceed 25 kilometres/hour speed or 1000 watts of power are mopeds and require a driving licence to use them. The Supreme Court has the last word and so far has not ruled on this contradiction in jurisprudence.
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