Depends. We have three classes of them here. There is the 6km/h variant for the sidewalk, there is a 25km/h variant for which you need a simple driving licence and insurance that you can use on roads and bike lanes (IIRC), and a 40km/h version where you need a full driving licence and a bigger insurance, for use on the roads.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles, heelies, or an office chair: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!
"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.
micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"
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Why not just update the highway traffic act to accomodate new realities, instead of doubling-down on enforcement?
Good luck. Getting the HTA to change for the benefit of non-car drivers is near impossible.
We need the Idaho Stop legalized in Canada and the HTA is the only way to get it (and that hasn't happened in... Decades?). 😞
Here in Finland they are mopeds (EU classification L1e) - limited to 45km/h, allowed on the road and most bike lanes, can be driven without a license if you were born before 1985 (grandfathered) otherwise requires the quick and cheap AM license you can get at 15.
Which is why they are almost entirely advertised for the elderly, literally known as senior scooters, as a vehicle that doesn't require a license means you can keep driving one even if the doctor takes your drivers license.
Wow. You only get the 25km/h model here for that. For anything faster, you need a full driving licence.
Driving a vehicle that can do 45 km/h without a license and no crumple zone sounds suicidal ...
Still a lot safer than actual mopeds.
I'm not ready to accept that as-is. Sure, you're less likely to fall down in a four-wheeled vehicle, but I'm not convinced that a closed vehicle without a crumple zone is actually safer than an open two-wheeled vehicle in a collision. My guess is that you're more likely to injure yourself on a regular moped, but you're more likely to outright die in a mobility scooter.
AFAIK there hasn't been a single death in Finland involving one. Biggest thing is that they stick out like a sore thumb in traffic so you reduce the risk of getting driven over by an inattentive car driver by multiple orders of magnitude.
Just make wide mobile lanes and it's not a problem.
Cars got pedestrians, bikes, and others fighting for scraps of right fi way while consuming 80%+ of it.
They are perfectly allowed. But I don't know about your place
They are perfectly allowed.
Where are they allowed where you live? Road, bike lanes, sidewalks, all of the above?
On regular streets.
Interesting, so does your municipality consider them to be standard vehicles, like an automobile?
Or something more like an e-bike?
Around here, they are quite literally classified as pedestrians. Which is why they're forced to be on sidewalks 🤷♂️
standard vehicles, like an automobile?
Yes.
your municipality
No, LOL. The country, and more or less the whole EU.
RIP the disabled people who rely on those.
top speed of 20-30 km/hr
Yeah, that's definitely not something that should be sharing space with pedestrians. Where I live, the maximum speed that's allowed without a driver's licence is 15 km/h, and it's legal to drive the classic mobility scooters anywhere - sidewalk, road, bicycle lane are all fine. Most of them seem to have a maximum speed of 6 km/h (you don't even need insurance for them at that speed).
Trouble with these enclosed models is that it doesn't seem like it's actually safe for them to drive on a road (or at 30 km/h, imagine colliding with a lantern pole at that speed ...), so the only place that might be alright for them is the bicycle lane. But even on a bicycle lane, I question the ability and willingness of their drivers to drive safely enough at 30 km/h to not endanger the people they're sharing the lane with. E-bikes are already an issue at a maximum of 25 km/h (especially when their drivers are elderly), this adds potentially another 5 km/h and a mostly false sense of security on top.
It's hard to address these concerns pretty specifically because every type of device, whether it be a pedal bicycle, an ebike, an e-scooter, or one of these enclosed mobile scooters, all have different weights, different powers, and kind of go the same speed.
The exception of pedal bikes, which can far exceed 30 km an hour quite easily.
That's why I think alternative infrastructure should be made for these electric vehicles, which aren't cars but also not ebikes.
And hell, take away a lane from cars. I don't give a damn. 😂
30km/h isn't bad, if you're using this on low speed roads (for example, 40 km/h roads). But if we are to see an exit from large cars and SUVs, then we need to rapidly change laws and infrastructure to accommodate "mini cars" like this.
That’s why I think alternative infrastructure should be made for these electric vehicles, which aren’t cars but also not ebikes.
I really don't think that's feasible, though. Most cities genuinely struggle with trying to make space just for bicycle lanes, there's no way most of them can fit another lane for yet another class of vehicles. Taking away all regular car lanes might do it, but I don't think that's remotely realistic :D
30km/h isn’t bad, if you’re using this on low speed roads (for example, 40 km/h roads).
That was my assumption from the start (30 km/h roads are fairly common here), but it's still pretty bad IMO. These scooters being fully enclosed pretty much means that the driver will take the full force of an accident very often, compared to bicycle accidents where they often spend some of the accident force by flying around (which is still survivable at 30 km/h), and usually won't go nearly as fast. Nevermind cars, the driver could easily die by driving into a pole, wall or parking car at full speed. Though I suppose most of the issue is that I assume that the driver is elderly and thus slow to react and with bad traffic awareness, these people shouldn't be going 25 km/h on an e-bike, either.
I really don’t think that’s feasible, though. Most cities genuinely struggle with trying to make space just for bicycle lanes, there’s no way most of them can fit another lane for yet another class of vehicles. Taking away all regular car lanes might do it, but I don’t think that’s remotely realistic :D
I like to think of it like this: cars are not the future. The sooner we build for non-car modes of transportation, the better. And any city that fails in this regard will not attract the best people, because it will be an undesireable city to live in.
Hey, you don't need to take "lanes" from cars, so we can start with on-street parking! Any new developments should have design for these other forms of transportation in their plan, just like many do with multi-use paths (instead of sidewalks + bike gutters).
this adds potentially another 5 km/h and a mostly false sense of security on top.
Not to mention how much more it weighs than an e-bike...