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Image shows an e-scooter on a footpath Alamy
Road Safety
E-scooter rules approved by cabinet, with age increase and mandatory helmets to come in next month
Further legal requirements around licensing, registration and insurance for e-scooters are being worked out by the Department of Transport.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS signed off on new regulations related to e-scooters, with the legal age for riding one to increase from 16 to 18 next month.
At the same time, it will also be made mandatory for people to wear high-vis gear and a helmet while on an e-scooter.
The changes come in response to an increase in serious injuries in recent months involving e-scooters.
Speaking at a press conference at Government Buildings this afternoon, Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien said cabinet ministers were told by Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill today that about 64% of paediatric head injuries presenting in hospitals are due to accidents involving e-scooters and that 93% of children involved in accidents were not wearing helmets.
“There is family responsibility here. Parents should not be buying these e-scooters for kids right now,” the minister said.
Speaking alongside O’Brien, junior minister for road safety Sean Canney also appealed to parents not to buy e-scooters for their children.
He said that in addition to the initial regulations being brought forward, legislation will be drafted later in the year to introduce a licence requirement for e-scooters.
Canney said a registration requirement will also be introduced so that there is data on who is selling e-scooters.
Asked to provide detail on the suggestion that insurance will be introduced as a requirement for e-scooters (something mooted by Tánaiste Simon Harris earlier this month), O’Brien said this will be worked out over the coming weeks and announced in September.
He said the department will work with the Road Safety Authority in relation to insurance and licensing and said they do not want to make it “overly burdensome” for people who use e-scooters appropriately.
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