The Slovak Parliament adopted on Tuesday a law that imposes a maximum speed of 6 kilometers per hour for pedestrians on sidewalks, a regulation that also applies to means of transport, such as bicycles and scooters.

The government, made up of social democrats, populists, and ultra-nationalists, announced that starting January 1, 2026, it will implement a new traffic rule aimed at increasing pedestrian safety and preventing collisions with electric scooters and bicycles on sidewalks. The progressive opposition criticized this measure, arguing that it will drive pedestrians off the sidewalks and will not solve safety issues. They emphasize that cars represent the greatest threat to pedestrians, not scooters or bicycles, considering that only three pedestrian-scooter collisions were reported in 2024. The opposition has called on the government to focus on increasing the number of bike lanes, believing that the solution to reducing accidents lies in adequate infrastructure, not in speed restrictions that are hard to enforce.