New rules for electric scooters on Spain's roads

Electric scooters are an increasingly common sight in Spanish cities and they frequently take to the pavements, zipping past pedestrians at high speed. With this global self-mobility trend growing all the time, new legislation to protect pedestrians and other road users was inevitable and today sees the publication of a new set of rules effective immediately.

Previously an issue dealt with on a municipal level, the new regulations introduced today by Spain’s national traffic authority (DGT) will apply to all electric scooters in use across the country:

- Personal mobility vehicles such as electric scooters are now officially considered vehicles across Spain and their 'drivers' are obliged to comply with national traffic laws in the same way drivers of cars or motorbikes do. Vehicles for people with reduced mobility are not included in this group.

- They can no longer be used on pavements. Riders caught doing so will be fined by the police. 

- Neither can they be used on intercity roads, motorways, highways, bypasses or city tunnels.

- Only one person is allowed on a scooter at any one time. Fines of 100€ will be issued to those breaking this rule.

- The use of earphones whilst on a scooter is prohibited. Offenders will face fines of 200€.

- Riders can also be fined for using their mobile phone or driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. These “distractions” are the most common causes of fatal accidents involving e-scooters or similar in Spain, and offenders face fines of 200€.

- The maximum speed for all roads is set at 25 km/h and the minimum speed allowed is 6km/h. There are also calls for manufacturers to start making this the maximum speed at which personal mobility vehicles can operate. A decision to drop the speed limit for all vehicles on two-way streets in cities from 50 to 30km/h will make it safer for e-scooters to be on the road as well.

- E-scooter owners must have a circulation certificate provided by the manufacturer but they will not need a government registration number as previously considered.

- At night, riders must have white lights at the front and red lights at the back of their scooter, like cyclists.

- Riders are advised to wear a reflective vest and take out insurance, although for the moment this isn’t mandatory. There is no law stating that helmet usage is obligatory either, although this is expected to be introduced in due course.

- Parents of offenders under the age of 18 will be held legally responsible for their actions and their fines.

In 2018, there were 300 accidents caused by personal mobility vehicles in Spain (e-scooters, Segways, mobility scooters), five of them fatal. It is hoped that today's legislation will go some way towards bringing these figures down.