Licenses for Under Aged Scooter Drivers

As a result of the modernization of the transportation sector, to allow accessibility to vehicles of all sizes, including scooters, and account for the spread and increased use of newly built highways, an urgent need has arisen for laws governing drivers, passengers, and pedestrians, to ensure the safety of society.

Given the mandatory nature of traffic rules, it is no surprise that they play a significant role in regulating the relationship between drivers, pedestrians, and scooter riders.

Despite this revolution, Egyptians are often exposed to numerous of accidents of varying seriousness. To tackle this, the State has been keen to put in place several controls to govern traffic law and to reduce the risks of serious damage to individuals and properties, which concurrently has a negative impact on our societies.

Although a law was introduced with the above developments in mind, allowing those who are sixteen years old to obtain a license to drive a scooter, the law arguably lacks sufficient controls for these minors, yet are still tried as juveniles as per the “Child Rights” Convention, issued by the United Nations, and Article No.111 of the Egyptian Child Law No. 126 of the year 2008.

Many states have permitted those under the age of eighteen to drive scooters upon certain conditions such as driving a specific kind of scooter with clearly defined characteristics, not driving on highways, and only driving at certain hours of the night, to increase security for all individuals.

With the above in mind, one can argue that the Egyptian Traffic Code does not implement strict enough conditions for minors driving scooters, despite juvenile delinquency becoming an increasingly global phenomenon, as quoted by, the American scientist Dr. Frederic Wannis who states that “We make criminals out of children who are not criminals.”

To conclude, the purpose of this article is to urge legislators to set strict controls and conditions regarding the issuance and renewal of the license for a child at the age of sixteen years, in order to protect the child’s life and others, in addition to providing an accurate and specific definition of what constitutes a “scooter”, since currently the scope of this word is too wide.

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