To improve safety, no one, regardless of their means of transport, should exceed 6 km/h from 2026.

A law intended to improve safety on Slovak sidewalks by setting a maximum speed for all users, including pedestrians, is provoking ridicule and exasperation from some of the population against the government, which is accused of restricting freedoms.

"At 6 km/h, it is difficult to keep your balance and even 3- to 4-year-old children regularly exceed" this speed on their bikes, Dan Kollar, president of Cyklokoalicia, a group that campaigns for soft mobility, told AFP ironically.

The amendment, approved by the Slovak parliament at the end of October and due to come into force on January 1, aims to limit the speed of all users of sidewalks, from pedestrians to cyclists and scooter riders, under penalty of a fine of 100 euros.

But the 6 km/h speed limit has provoked a wave of mockery on social media, with doctored images showing a radar flashing a pedestrian at 6.2 km/h and asking him to "brake" or a fake "permit to walk".

The children will constantly break the law

The government is creating a situation in which "children will break the law every day and we will teach them that it's acceptable," lamented Dan Kollar, who considers the legislation "absurd." Another citizens' group called "Concerned Mothers" has asked the president not to sign the law.

Last year, 67 pedestrians and 22 cyclists or scooter users died in accidents in Slovakia, according to police statistics, which do not, however, record whether these accidents took place on sidewalks or on the road.

Since Prime Minister Robert Fico returned to power in 2023 in the Central European country of 5.4 million people, he has passed a series of legislative amendments to limit individual rights.

Slovakia has the highest car production per capita in the world.