Introduce a helmet requirement

AFTENBLADET THINKS: There is no reason why a helmet requirement should not apply to everyone who uses electric scooters.

Aftenbladet wrote on Monday that stricter rules for the use of electric scooters have not led to noticeably fewer accidents.

The rules, which were introduced in June 2022, meant that the electric scooter is no longer considered a bicycle, but a small electric motor vehicle.

You must be 12 years old to be allowed to use an electric scooter, but only for people under 15 years of age is it required to wear a helmet. Many people do not.

Statistics show that helmet use is very low among injured electric scooter riders. In 502 serious accidents nationwide in the last three years, only 56 used a helmet. In Sør-Rogaland there were 55 electric scooter accidents with moderate and serious injuries in the same period. The driver wore a helmet in six of the accidents. About the same level as before the new rules were introduced.

Now, therefore, both the police and health personnel want helmets to be compulsory for everyone. The doctors who demand the injunction say it is because of the burden on the healthcare system, as well as the high proportion of patients with head and facial injuries.

A report from the National Roads Administration shows that there is a ten times higher risk of being injured on an electric scooter than on a normal bicycle.

According to Clemens Weber, senior physician in neurosurgery at Stavanger University Hospital (SUS), one in three people who suffer serious head injuries lose their lives. Two out of three will not be able to live as before, and very few return to a normal life after a serious head injury.

The rental company Tier, which closed its business in Stavanger last August, had a folding helmet fitted to its electric scooters. There is no reason why the other rental companies should not be required to have the same.

We also have to remember that it is not just the rental of electric scooters that is behind the accident figures. According to figures from both the Norwegian Road Administration and the electronics industry from last year, there are probably well over 500,000 electric scooters in private ownership.

When you see so clearly that politics does not work in practice, the politicians have to put their feet on the ground and look at how the rules can hit the mark better.

The zero vision of no fatalities or serious injuries has been the basis for road safety work in Norway since 2001. This should also apply to electric scooters.

There is no reason why there should only be a helmet requirement on electric scooters for people over the age of 15, as long as they are classified as motor vehicles and not bicycles. On mopeds and motorcycles, a helmet is a matter of course. Therefore, the requirement for a helmet must apply to all motorized vehicles, including electric scooters.