Paris: Paris has introduced stricter safety requirements for electric scooter riders, making helmets and high-visibility equipment mandatory on public roads as authorities respond to a sharp rise in accidents involving the vehicles.
Under the new rules, riders who fail to wear an approved helmet can be fined €135, while those without a high-visibility vest or required retro-reflectors face a €35 fine. The measures also apply to other motorised personal transport devices, including electric unicycles and hoverboards.
Police said 79 people were killed in e-scooter accidents in Paris last year, compared with 45 deaths the previous year. Around 1,100 people were injured, representing a 33 percent increase from the year before.
Authorities said the new requirements were introduced in response to the growing number of serious and fatal accidents involving electric scooters. Paris had already taken significant steps to restrict the use of e-scooters. The city banned rental e-scooters in 2023 following concerns over dangerous riding and the obstruction of pavements, although privately owned scooters remain legal.
E-scooters continue to be widely used by commuters, particularly in a city where narrow roads and congestion can make other forms of transport less convenient. France has the highest level of private e-scooter ownership in Europe, according to the European Union. Around 2.5 million people owned e-scooters in France as of 2023, with hundreds of thousands more purchased since then.
Existing Paris regulations prohibit children under 14 from riding e-scooters, ban passengers and impose a maximum speed of 25 km/h. Helmets and high-visibility vests are already compulsory in several other French regions, including Seine-et-Marne, Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse.
Paris was among the early adopters of shared e-scooters, but concerns over safety and public-space obstruction eventually led to a citywide referendum on rental services. Around 90 percent of those who voted supported a ban, although turnout was only about 8 percent of eligible voters.
Other European cities have also moved against rental e-scooters. Madrid banned them in 2024, while Brussels announced plans to follow with restrictions on rental services. The latest Paris measures focus on privately owned vehicles that remain on the city’s roads, with authorities aiming to reduce serious injuries and deaths by requiring riders to use basic protective and visibility equipment.
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