Electric scooter riders in Paris have been ordered to wear helmets and reflective gear or face a fine.
The new rules were introduced after a significant rise in injuries involving the two-wheelers, police said.
They apply to anyone riding motorised mobility devices including E-scooters, Segways and hoverboards, which police say are growing in popularity.
Rental E-scooters have been off the capital’s streets since 2023, when Paris voted to ban them over safety concerns, but privately owned devices remain widely used.
Police said the latest measure, which took effect in Paris and its inner suburbs on Friday, was prompted by a rise in accidents involving the devices, with “a significant proportion” causing serious or fatal head injuries.
Deaths among “vulnerable road users” – meaning pedestrians, cyclists or users of other unprotected devices such as motorbikes or E-scooters, – in Paris rose sharply last year. Some 79 people in this category were killed, up from 45 the previous year, Paris police said, stating that deaths of users of motorised mobility devices had risen particularly steeply.
Some 1,100 E-scooter users were also seriously injured in 2025, a 33 per cent increase from the previous year, according to the same data.
Failure to wear a helmet carries a €135 (£116) fine, while those without a high-visibility vest or reflective gear face a €35 (£30) fine, police said, stating that the order applies at all times on public roads.
Other European cities have in recent years cracked down on the two-wheelers, with Madrid banning rental E-scooters in 2024 and Brussels announcing in June it would follow suit.
E-scooter accidents much worse than motorcycle ones
Research in Britain released this week found that badly injured E-scooter riders are 3.5 times more likely than motorcyclists in the same situation to have suffered a traumatic brain injury. A study by David Bodansky, a surgeon, and a team of British experts analysed data for 15,247 patients who had been listed in the national major trauma registry after suffering moderate or severe injuries.
These included 580 E-scooter riders, just over 7,000 motorcyclists and 7,740 bicycle riders.
Each person featured in the data needed hospital treatment following incidents between 2020 and 2022 in 18 trauma centres across England and Wales.
Each had moderate to severe injuries after incidents, while 87.9 per cent of E-scooter riders were aged over 18.
Compared with motorcyclists, those who used E-scooters faced a 3.5 times higher risk of a traumatic brain injury, a 1.5 times higher risk of injuring their internal organs, and a 3.2 times higher risk of injuries to arteries or veins. The risk was 1.7, 1.4 and 1.7 times higher respectively when compared with cyclists.