A new law setting a 6km/h speed limit for cyclists, skaters, scooter and e-scooter riders on pavements in Slovakia has prompted mockery, criticism and a rash of online memes.

The Slovakian parliament approved the measures to improve safety, agreeing that pavement users who exceed the limit could be fined up to 100 euros ($116). It is not yet clear how police will implement the law when it comes into effect on 1 January next year.

The law aims to limit the speed of “roller blades, kick scooters, skateboards and similar sport equipment, as well as cyclists allowed to ride on pavements”, such as children less than 10 years old and accompanying adults, the interior ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Dan Kollar, the president of the Cyklokoalicia group that advocates 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 three- to four-year-old children (on bikes) routinely exceed it,” he said.

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

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 pavement accidents separately.

Since the 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.