Keep to the speed limit - pedestrians and other pavement users can’t exceed 6km/h

There's new rules for getting around in Slovakia. Photo / Getty Images

A new law to improve safety on footpaths in Slovakia has prompted mockery and criticism, with claims that fleet-footed pedestrians could be caught speeding.

The Slovak parliament approved a proposal to set a maximum speed limit for all pavement-users, from pedestrians to cyclists, skaters, scooter and e-scooter riders.

But the agreed 6km/h limit triggered bemusement online and a rash of memes about speeding pedestrians or whether they will need a licence to walk.

Pavement users who exceed the limit could be fined up to €100 ($205), although it is not yet clear how police will implement the law when it comes into effect on January 1 next year.

Dan Kollar, president of the Cyklokoalicia group that advocates for walking and cycling, criticised the law as “nonsensical”, and said the changes late last month were not justified “in any way”.

“At such a low speed, it’s hard to maintain balance and even 3- to 4-year-old children [on bikes] routinely exceed it,” he told AFP.

The law, he said, creates a situation “where children will break the law every day, and we’ll teach them it’s okay”.

Another group, Concerned Mothers, has also asked the president not to sign the law.

Last year, 67 pedestrians and 22 cyclists or scooter riders died in accidents, according to police statistics, but police do not record footpath accidents separately.

Since nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico took office in 2023, his Government has passed a slew of legislative amendments, including changes to the constitution and the criminal code to curb rights, drawing protests.

-Agence France-Presse