Electric scooter accidents are down, but three riders are still injured every day.
Accidents, which occur mainly in cities, have fallen by 30%, as have serious injuries.
BarcelonaEvery day, three electric scooter riders are involved in an accident. According to data from the Catalan Traffic Service, accessed by ARA, of the 1,283 riders involved in accidents in 2025, 72 suffered serious injuries. The vast majority of accidents occur on urban roads, unlike on interurban roads, where they are rare. However, although Three drivers involved in accidents every day may seem like a very high number.In the last year, this figure has decreased significantly.
In total, accidents involving electric scooter riders have decreased by 30% in one year. The peak of accidents was in 2024, when 1,838 injuries were recorded. In fact, that year was especially tragic: three fatalities were recorded – there were none in 2023 and none have been recorded in 2025 either – and serious injuries among users of this type of vehicle increased by 90%. While the 2025 data does not yet show as positive a trend as that of 2023, since there have been 18% more victims than then, the figure for serious injuries (72) this year is practically identical to that of 2023 and is even lower than that of 2024. The heaviest traffic of electric scooters is found in the city of Barcelona. According to the City Council's latest accident statistics, published in February of this year, accidents involving electric scooters also decreased by 8%, from 607 in 2024 to 559 in 2025. One of the big questions is what explains this decrease. In this regard, municipal sources point to the effect of the new regulations that came into force a year ago. Among the new measures is the mandatory use of helmets—which is directly linked to the reduction in serious accidents—and also the ban on riding on sidewalks—including bicycles; two restrictions that significantly reduce the likelihood of pedestrian accidents and collisions with obstacles. "These measures were taken precisely to raise awareness among users of personal mobility vehicles," say sources from the City Council. In fact, the tightening of regulations for electric scooters has not only been implemented in Barcelona. Several cities in the metropolitan area have opted in recent months to ban cycling without a helmet. Barcelona did so in February 2025, and Badalona, Sant Just Desvern, Sant Adrià del Besòs, Esplugues de Llobregat, and Cornellà de Llobregat have also followed suit.
More checks and fines
The new regulations have also been accompanied by increased enforcement against users of these vehicles. In Barcelona, for example, 20,902 fines were issued to riders in 2025, equivalent to almost 60 fines per day. This represents a 34% increase in fines compared to 2024. The increase is mainly due to the implementation of penalties for riding without a helmet. In Cornellà, during 2025, the local police issued 935 fines to scooter riders, 169 more than in 2024. And in Viladecans, more fines were issued in just six months than during all of 2024. Municipal traffic sources cite the fact that scooters are prohibited on public transport. This measure was taken in early 2023 after several incidents on buses, such as multiple scooters catching fire due to faulty battery connections. However, there are some indicators that suggest the use of electric scooters continues to rise.
Bicivia is the network of cycleways promoted by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) to connect municipalities, and in recent years it has seen an exponential increase in electric scooters. In 2024, for example, the number of these vehicles increased by 92%. Also in Barcelona, traffic on bike lanes—where the vast majority of electric scooters also circulate—increased by 17% between June 2024 and 2025. However, bicycles still predominate in these spaces: according to a study by the RACC (Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia), scooters represent only 18% of the traffic on these lanes.