Belgium Mandates Helmets for E-Scooters Above 20 km/h
Starting September 1, wearing a helmet becomes mandatory for electric scooter users in Belgium when their device can exceed 20 km/h. The obligation, announced by the Federal Public Service for Mobility (SPF Mobilité) on Friday, targets scooters with a maximum technical speed between 20 and 25 km/h—25 km/h being the legal limit on public roads. E-scooters limited to 20 km/h or less are exempt, meaning users of shared free-floating services like Bolt and Dott, which are by default capped at that speed, will not be affected, according to RTBF.
Why the Mandate Now
The measure comes amid sharply rising e-scooter accident figures. In 2025, 13 people died in Belgium in accidents involving electric scooters, up from just 4 the previous year, according to the annual road safety barometer published by the Vias institute in March. The number of e-scooter accidents with injuries also increased by 34% in 2025, as RTBF reported.
Perhaps most concerning: 65% of people arriving at emergency rooms after an e-scooter accident suffer from head trauma, yet only 4% were wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. In Brussels, just 20% of e-scooter users wear helmets compared to 71% of cyclists, according to data cited by Brussels Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt.
The Royal Decree and Its Scope
The regulation was introduced via a royal decree drafted by Federal Mobility Minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engagés), who had been working on the measure for about a year before it was first announced publicly on March 30, 2026. The decree was under review by the Council of State as of mid-August before receiving final approval, as DHnet reported.
The obligation is based on the maximum technical speed of the device, not the speed at which the user is riding at the time of a check. As Minister Crucke explained in March: “We should base ourselves on manufacturer standards. If the brand, in the device’s manual, indicates that the scooter is limited to 20 km/h, the driver will not be required to wear a helmet. Beyond this limit, wearing a helmet will indeed be mandatory,” as RTBF reported.
Riders subject to the new rule can choose between a moped helmet or a bicycle helmet that protects the temples and back of the head.
Industry Reaction
Belgian mobility organization Touring welcomed the decision, stating: “The safety of users, often young people, comes first. The medical world had long been calling for reducing and preventing the very serious injuries caused by accidents and falls with these devices. A good helmet can certainly contribute to this.” Touring also urged authorities to remain vigilant about enforcement, insisting that “scooters that far exceed, sometimes extremely, the maximum authorized speed of 25 km/h must be resolutely removed from circulation,” as DHnet reported.
Shared mobility operators had previously expressed concerns about the potential impact of a blanket helmet mandate. In internal surveys, approximately 75-80% of users said they would stop using shared mobility services if a helmet obligation were introduced, according to Guillaume Burland, spokesperson for Bolt. The exemption for shared scooters capped at 20 km/h was designed in part to address these concerns, as VRT NWS reported.
Stef Willems of the Vias road safety institute has nevertheless advocated for voluntary helmet use even on shared scooters, noting that “falls on scooters often happen the same way: people go over the handlebars and fall on their heads.”
Broader Context: A Push to Curb Scooter Risks
The helmet mandate is part of a wider effort to address e-scooter safety in Belgium. The number of e-scooter accidents with injuries has grown from approximately 400 in 2020 to nearly 2,500 in 2025. In Brussels alone, 666 injuries involving electric scooters were recorded in 2025, a 26% increase over the previous year, as RTBF detailed.
The risk of injury on an e-scooter is ten times higher compared to bicycles, according to Vias data cited by Brussels Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt. “If the risk is 1 for cars, it’s 9 for bicycles and 93 for electric scooters,” she noted.
Brussels has gone even further, announcing in June that shared e-scooters will be banned from the capital starting January 1, 2027. The decision, which affects operators Bolt and Dott, was justified by rising accident numbers, nuisances for other road users, and the use of shared scooters for criminal purposes, as RTBF reported.
What to Watch For
As the helmet mandate takes effect, attention will turn to enforcement. Touring has called for increased controls on modified scooters that exceed legal speed limits. Minister Crucke has also advocated for European harmonization on possible mandatory registration of e-scooters, suggesting that Belgium’s approach could serve as a model for other countries grappling with similar safety challenges.
With Brussels set to ban shared scooters entirely in January 2027, the coming months will reveal whether the helmet mandate—combined with other regulatory measures—can reverse the troubling trend of e-scooter accidents across Belgium. As RTL Info noted, the new rule marks a significant shift in how the country regulates this increasingly popular mode of transport.