Ireland: Children will be banned from using electric scooters in public from Monday; Fine, more guidelines in force: Transport Minister Eamonn Ryan

Ireland will ban children under 16 from using electric scooters in public from next Monday, under revised regulations signed and published by Transport Minister Eamonn Ryan.

According to the Road Traffic (Electric Scooters) Rules, the normal speed limit for electric scooters on all public roads is 20 kmph. The regulations also have strict requirements around braking and lighting. Regulations prohibit the use of electric scooters to carry more than one person at a time. It says not to attach a seat to an electric scooter.

E-scooters must be safe and roadworthy and "must not endanger, obstruct or inconvenience the driver, other road users or the public".

The tough new restrictions come despite Ryan telling the Oireachtas Committee on Transport in June 2022 that banning the sale and supply of e-scooters to under-16s would be an "unenforceable provision". Pursuing security measures that do not actually increase or improve security would be a false promise and bad policy,” the minister said.

A public awareness campaign about e-scooters will start from next Monday. The Garda and the Road Safety Authority (RSA) have been involved in the development of these regulations from the outset and the Garda will be responsible for their enforcement.

E-scooter campaign

RSA is launching a campaign to educate people about the use of e-scooters. The campaign will begin when the new e-scooter regulations come into effect next Monday and will be shown across radio, digital audio, video-on-demand, social media and out-of-home ads, and will focus on highlighting key rules related to e-scooters, including RSA vehicle specifications, the authority said. Informed.

The RSA's advertising campaign is extensive and will allow e-scooters and other road users to learn how to safely share the roads together. And it aims to remind all road users that we all share the roads together.

Last year, gardaí recorded more than 220 e-scooter crashes or collisions, 54 of which resulted in serious or fatal injuries. In 2022, there were an average of 14 e-scooter accidents or collisions each week, according to Garda figures.

Violation of road rules, non-compliance and improper or dangerous use of an e-scooter will result in a permanent charge notice, the RSA said. The RSA added that motorists sharing the road with e-scooters should "follow the same guidelines as those sharing the road with people riding bicycles".