You can only walk 6 kilometers per hour if you want to follow the law in Slovakia.The Slovak parliament Tuesday afternoon adopted an amendment to the traffic law that sets a maximum permitted speed on sidewalks in urban areas at 6 kph.The limit applies to pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and scooter and e-scooter riders — all of who are allowed on sidewalks — and aims to avoid frequent collisions.“The main goal is to increase safety on sidewalks in light of the increasing number of collisions with scooter riders,” said the author of the amendment, Ľubomír Vážny of the leftist-populist Smer party of Prime Minister Robert Fico, which is part of the ruling coalition.The amendment will be useful in proving violations, the lawmaker said, “especially in cases where it’s necessary to objectively determine whether they were moving faster than what’s considered an appropriate speed in areas meant primarily for pedestrians.”
Although the law will come into force Jan. 1, 2026, proponents haven’t publicly spelled out how they plan to enforce it.
The average walking speed typically ranges between 4 to 5 kph. However, the British Heart Foundation reports that a pace of 6.4 kilometers per hour is considered moderate for someone with excellent fitness.The opposition criticized the change, and even the Slovak Interior Ministry said it would be more appropriate to prohibit e-scooters from the sidewalks than impose a general speed limit.Martin Pekár of the opposition liberal party Progressive Slovakia said pedestrians face danger from cars, not cyclists or scooters, and that the amendment penalizes sustainable transport.
“If we want fewer collisions, we need more safe bike lanes, not absurd limits that are physically impossible to follow,” Pekár said. “At the mentioned speed, a cyclist can hardly keep their balance,” he added.The amendment has sparked a wave of amusement on social media, with some wondering whether running to catch a bus could get them fined.
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