Ireland is preparing to introduce wide-ranging new e-scooter laws, including compulsory helmets, registration and licensing, as ministers seek to tackle a growing number of serious injuries and strengthen enforcement.
It also plans to raise the minimum age from 16 to 18, the highest national age limit for e-scooter use in Europe.
While several European countries have already introduced similar measures, researchers still have limited evidence showing which regulations are most effective at reducing harm.
So, what does the evidence actually tell us?
How big is the e-scooter injury problem?
Ireland's proposed changes follow growing concern about serious injuries involving e-scooters, particularly among children.
Between June 2024 and May 2025, 12 children were admitted to Temple Street Hospital with traumatic brain injuries following e-scooter crashes. There was then a 50% increase on admissions since June 2025, with 18 children admitted between June 2025 and May 2026.
At least seven more have been admitted since then.
E-scooter crashes also accounted for more than one-third of all paediatric traumatic brain injury admissions to Temple Street's neurosurgery and rehabilitation services in 2026.
Among 30 children admitted with traumatic brain injuries linked to e-scooters between May 2024 and June 2026, every child suffered bleeding inside the skull, more than half required emergency neurosurgery and almost all had not been wearing a helmet.
In total, Children's Health Ireland recorded 1,130 emergency department attendances linked to e-scooters between January 2021 and August 2025, estimating that one to two children each day are currently presenting to its emergency departments with e-scooter-related injuries.
The Road Safety Authority has also recorded fatalities involving e-scooters. Three riders were killed on Irish roads in 2023, one died in 2024, and a further three e-scooter users died in 2025.
Ireland is not alone. According to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), 119 people were killed and 5,867 seriously injured in reported e-scooter collisions across Europe in 2022, the most recent year for which comparable data is available.
Those figures help explain why governments across Europe are under pressure to act. What remains less clear is which measures actually work.
What is Ireland planning to do?
The Government is proposing a phased package of new rules aimed at improving safety and strengthening enforcement.
Subject to Cabinet approval, compulsory helmets, high-visibility clothing and a ban on under 18s using e-scooters could come into effect as early as August.
Separate legislation expected from September would require privately owned e-scooters to be registered and riders to hold a licence.
Greater legal protections for Garda members involved in pursuing e-scooters and e-bikes, similar to those available to police officers in the UK, are also under consideration.
Ministers have also said an outright ban on e-scooters remains "on the table" if the new measures do not improve safety.
However, while many of the proposals have been announced, some of the practical details have yet to be decided.
For example, the Government has not yet explained how the registration system will operate, what type of licence riders would need or whether insurance requirements will also be introduced.
What evidence is there that tougher rules work?
Several European countries have already introduced measures similar to those now being considered in Ireland, including helmet requirements, registration systems, technical standards and minimum age limits.
However, researchers say the evidence supporting those measures is uneven.
Dudley Curtis, a spokesperson for the ETSC, said there is stronger evidence for some interventions than others.
"I think helmets is the one we've got the evidence for," Mr Curtis said.
"On the licensing and registration piece, I don’t think we know," he added.
"That doesn’t mean it’s not doing something positive, but we just don’t have the data on that yet."
Part of the challenge is that e-scooters are still a relatively new form of transport. Countries also record collisions and injuries differently, making direct comparisons difficult.
Mr Curtis said researchers do not have reliable data on how far e-scooters are being ridden or how many people are using them, making it difficult to accurately assess risk.
As a result, many governments are taking what researchers describe as a precautionary approach, introducing measures designed to reduce risk even where clear evidence of their effectiveness is still emerging.
Germany, for example, requires e-scooters to display an insurance sticker, while Spain has introduced technical certification requirements for newly sold scooters. Other countries have imposed helmet rules, speed limits and restrictions on where scooters can be used.
Germany illustrates how difficult it can be to judge whether regulations are working. Although it introduced one of Europe's earliest regulatory systems when e-scooters were legalised in 2019, collision numbers have continued to rise.
That does not necessarily mean the regulations have failed. More people are using e-scooters than when they were first legalised, meaning rising collision numbers alone cannot show whether riding has become more or less safe.
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While app-based rental scooters are widely available in cities across countries such as Germany and Portugal, Irish riders predominantly use privately owned scooters, with shared rental schemes remaining limited.
"With those kinds of schemes, there is a possibility to have more control over the speed and some of these extra risk factors," Mr Curtis said.
By contrast, some privately owned e-scooters can reach speeds of 50 to 60 km/h, similar to a moped.
The ETSC is calling for mandatory technical standards across the EU, including a 20 km/h speed limiter, minimum braking requirements, stability standards and limits on acceleration.
Can regulation change behaviour?
Denmark introduced compulsory helmets for e-scooter riders in 2022, backed by fines of around €200, visible enforcement and a public awareness campaign.
In the Danish Road Safety Council's annual nationwide observational survey, around 21% of riders were observed wearing helmets prior to 2022.
Following the law’s introduction, that had increased to 69%, remaining at around two-thirds in subsequent years.
Mr Curtis said the effectiveness of a helmet requirement would depend heavily on whether riders believed it would be enforced.
"Are people going to feel like they’re going to be stopped and fined for not wearing a helmet?" he said.
"Because if people don’t feel that that’s likely to happen, then they may well not wear a helmet."
The Danish Road Safety Council concluded that helmet laws, backed by enforcement and financial penalties, can significantly increase helmet use.
However, they also cautioned that further research is needed to establish whether higher helmet use has translated into fewer injuries.
Will registration and licensing be enforceable?
A major reason the Government wants to introduce registration, and licensing is because privately owned e-scooters can be difficult to police.
Unlike cars or motorcycles, e-scooters are not currently registered. That means Gardaí often have no straightforward way of identifying who owns a scooter or tracing it back to an individual after an incident.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport Seán Canney has said one aim of the proposals is to establish who owns e-scooters, who is using them and who is responsible for selling them.
Enforcement would remain the responsibility of An Garda Síochána. According to the Department of Justice, Gardaí have already initiated 793 prosecutions involving e-scooters and seized 1,412 scooters so far in 2026.
Gardaí currently have four mobile dynamometers, which can test whether an e-scooter is capable of exceeding the legal maximum speed. Scooters found to exceed that limit can be seized and riders prosecuted.
Supporters of registration argue that it could make it easier for Gardaí to identify riders involved in collisions, dangerous driving incidents or other offences. However, several important questions remain unanswered.
The Government has not yet published exactly how the registration system would operate, how compliance would be monitored, or what penalties would apply if riders fail to register their scooters or obtain a licence. However, Cabinet is expected to discuss further details next week.
There is also a separate question about enforcement on the ground.
Registration may help Gardaí identify the owner of a scooter after an incident, but it does not necessarily solve the problem of stopping riders who refuse to comply with the rules.
The Department of Justice has said pursuing riders can create significant risks for Garda members, riders and the wider public. Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has said he is examining specialist pursuit training for Garda members, while the Government is also considering whether additional legal protections may be needed when Gardaí carry out pursuits.
For riders wondering whether scooters could be confiscated, Gardaí already have powers to seize e-scooters in certain circumstances. However, the Government has not yet outlined how confiscation would fit into the proposed registration and licensing system.
What do transport safety experts recommend?
While much of the public debate in Ireland has focused on helmets, enforcement and registration, international transport experts say improving e-scooter safety is unlikely to depend on any single measure.
Instead, they argue that the greatest safety improvements come from combining regulation with safer road design, lower traffic speeds and vehicles that meet appropriate technical standards.
The ETSC recommends a combination of lower speed limits, minimum age requirements, helmet use, drink-riding restrictions and stronger technical standards for braking, lighting and vehicle stability.
The OECD's International Transport Forum reached a similar conclusion. Its review found that between 30% and 40% of e-scooter crashes involve poor road surfaces, suggesting infrastructure may be just as important as rider behaviour in determining safety outcomes.
Taken together, the evidence suggests Ireland's proposed measures could reduce some of the risks associated with e-scooters.
What it does not show is that any single intervention is likely to dramatically reduce injuries on its own.
Researchers increasingly view e-scooter safety as something that depends on a combination of regulation, enforcement, infrastructure, vehicle standards and rider behaviour.
Mr Curtis warned against focusing solely on riders and their vehicles while overlooking the roads on which they are travelling.
"We don’t have the right infrastructure for these types of vehicles. We don’t have the separated cycle paths everywhere we need them," he said.
"If you solve some of that infrastructure that works for bikes, you’re also solving it for e-scooters."
"Let’s not just put all the blame on these vehicles and the people riding them."
