The accident figures involving e-scooters are alarming. In 2025, the number of accidents resulting in personal injury rose by 38.1 per cent, whilst the death toll rose by over 40 per cent. There is therefore undoubtedly a need for action. However, the measures now proposed by the German Road Safety Council (DVR) do not go far enough. A certificate of competence, a higher minimum age or additional side marker lights primarily tackle the symptoms – not the actual cause.

After all, the biggest problem on Germany’s roads is by no means a lack of knowledge about traffic rules. Most people know full well that you are not allowed to ride an e-scooter on the pavement. They know that you must not ride against the direction of traffic on one-way streets. They also know that e-scooters are only authorised for one person. Yet everyone sees the opposite happening every day.

People ride at high speed along pavements, weaving between pedestrians. One-way streets are ignored if the detour seems too inconvenient. Two people on one scooter have become almost an everyday sight; three are not uncommon – and if it were technically possible, four people would probably be standing on a single vehicle.

This has nothing to do with a lack of riding skills. Nobody needs a licence for that. It simply requires respect for other road users.

The call for a sort of ‘e-scooter licence’ therefore seems surprisingly technocratic. Anyone who deliberately flouts the rules is unlikely to change their behaviour simply because they have attended a training session or received a certificate beforehand. Nor will raising the minimum age from 14 to 15 make much of an impression on those who are already riding at a younger age or who do not adhere to existing regulations.

The same applies to new technical requirements. Indicators, side marker lights or reflectors can improve visibility – there’s no question about that. However, they do not prevent someone from riding whilst under the influence of alcohol, speeding through pedestrian zones or deliberately using the pavement as a motorway.

It is noteworthy that the DVR itself points to the actual causes. According to Destatis, in 2025 the most common offence was the incorrect use of roads or pavements (21.6 per cent), followed by drink-driving (10.9 per cent) and driving at inappropriate speeds (8.4 per cent). These are not gaps in knowledge. These are deliberate breaches of the rules.

This is precisely why the key lies not in ever more regulations, but in their consistent enforcement. Anyone who regularly witnesses people cycling on pavements, carrying two people on a bike or cycling against the flow of traffic without facing any consequences should hardly be surprised by rising accident figures. Rules are only effective when flouting them has tangible consequences.

Even more important, however, is a societal question: to what extent is mutual consideration still taken for granted today? Road safety does not arise solely from laws, technology or test certificates. It arises from a sense of responsibility. Anyone who uses public roads takes on responsibility – for themselves and for others. If this attitude is lacking, neither additional lighting nor yet another certificate in one’s wallet will help.

Perhaps it is therefore time to focus less on discussing new certificates and more on how we can return to a road culture in which consideration for others is more important than saving time for oneself. At the same time, the legislature should significantly tighten the existing scale of fines and penalise offences more consistently. Anyone who rides on pavements, travels against the direction of traffic, rides two or even three people on a single e-scooter, or endangers other road users should expect substantially higher fines. In the case of repeated or particularly serious offences, temporary bans on riding e-scooters or – where applicable – points on the driving record would certainly be worth considering. After all, it is not new licences that ensure safety, but a combination of personal responsibility, mutual respect and consistently enforced rules. [DCM]