An EU country is set to impose speed limits for pedestrians with fines reaching up to €100 (£88).
Slovakia has rolled out plans for a maximum speed limit for everyone using pavements – including pedestrians, cyclists and skaters as well as scooter and e-scooter users.
The new limit, just 3.7 miles per hour, has sparked scorn and fury – with locals on social media warning of fines for walking.
The law is set to come into effect on January 1, and could see those who break the speed limit fined €100 (£88).
Dan Kollar, the president of the Cyklokoalicia walking and cycling group, branded the law “nonsensical” and not justified “in any way”.
He said: “At such a low speed, it’s hard to maintain balance and even three- to four-year-old children [on bikes] routinely exceed it.”
Mr Kollar added that the law will create an environment “where children will break the law every day, and we’ll teach them it’s okay”.
It is not currently known how authorities will implement the new law.
PICTURED: Locals walk through Hviezdoslav Square in Slovak capital Bratislava’s old town. Pedestrians like this man could soon be fined for breaking the speed limit
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Though Rastislav Polakovic, the deputy chief of the national police, insisted: “We will definitely not be measuring the walking speed of pedestrians.”
The police force in the capital city of Bratislava said the irresponsible use of e-scooters was the main target of the new law.
Authorities said 290 incidents involving e-scooters have been recorded so far this year.
Last year, according to police data, 67 pedestrians and 22 cyclists or scooter riders died in accidents across Slovakia.
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However, accidents on the pavement are not recorded individually in the overall data.
Since entering office in 2023, nationalist PM Robert Fico and his Government have passed multiple new laws, including some which have changed the country’s constitution and criminal code.
Mr Fico was shot last May in an assassination attempt linked to his pro-Russian stance.
Protests have been rampant across the country, with demonstrators furious at Mr Fico’s economic policies and ties to Vladimir Putin.
Members of the opposition have criticised the new law, and even the Slovak Interior Ministry said it would be better to ban e-scooters from pavements rather than introducing the speed limit.
Protests have been rampant across Slovakia, with demonstrators furious at Mr Fico’s economic policies and ties to Vladimir Putin
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Martin Pekar of the opposition liberal party Progressive Slovakia said the law discourages people from using more sustainable forms of transport.
He said: “If we want fewer collisions, we need more safe bike lanes, not absurd limits that are physically impossible to follow.
“At the mentioned speed, a cyclist can hardly keep their balance.”
