Six fatal electric scooter accidents in Italy so far this year.

An electric scooter user was killed in a road accident in Rome last night after being hit by a car.

The victim was a 34-year-old Nigerian man, who died instantly, reports news agency ANSA.

The crash took place just after midnight, in the early hours of 9 September, on Via Chiana in the capital's Trieste suburb.

An investigation is underway into the circumstances of the accident which has reignited a debate in Italy about the safety of electric scooters.

The fatal accident - the sixth in Italy this year involving an electric scooter user - comes less than a month after a 27-year-old Filipino man died from his injuries after crashing his e-scooter on a cycle path near the Vatican.

• Italy debates electric scooter safety after teenager dies in accident

Last week a 13-year-old boy lost his life in an electric scooter accident in Sesto S. Giovanni in the outskirts of Milan.

The boy's death led the town's mayor to bring in new rules including speed limits and obliging all electric scooter users to wear a helmet.

Meanwhile the Lombardia region around Milan is currently seeking to ban under 18s from using e-scooters and enforce the wearing of helmets.

The move comes amid growing calls in Italy for stricter regulations for e-scooter users, with Italy's association of driving schools saying that training courses and licenses should also be compulsory.

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