Riders of electric scooters capable of travelling at more than 20 km/h will have to wear a helmet in Belgium from 1 September 2026.
The new requirement follows a sharp increase in the number of electric scooters on Belgian roads in recent years, particularly in urban areas. While the rise in popularity reflects a shift towards more sustainable forms of transport suited to cities, it has also been accompanied by a significant increase in accidents involving powered personal mobility devices, particularly electric scooters.
International research, medical studies and accident statistics all point to the same concern: head and brain injuries are particularly common in serious and fatal accidents involving motorised vehicles, including electric scooters.
The federal legislator has therefore introduced a helmet requirement for riders of powered personal mobility devices whose construction-determined maximum speed exceeds 20 km/h.
The measure was adopted by royal decree on the initiative of the federal Minister for Mobility and is intended to improve safety for riders of the faster electric scooters.
What type of helmet is required?
Riders will be able to choose between a moped helmet and a bicycle helmet that protects the temples and the back of the head.
Why the 20 km/h threshold?
Research comparing the consequences of crashes at different speeds has found that the biomechanical forces acting on the head during a fall increase significantly as speed rises. This translates into a higher risk of serious head and brain injuries.
The 20 km/h threshold is intended to strike a balance between improving safety and ensuring that the rules remain proportionate to the risks associated with different types of personal mobility devices.
According to the authorities, this targeted approach focuses the helmet requirement on situations where it offers the greatest safety benefit for its cost.
The distinction is also intended to avoid undermining the shift towards more sustainable forms of urban transport, including shared electric scooters. Such a modal shift can itself have public-health benefits, the authorities argue.
The aim is therefore to improve safety for users of the fastest scooters – those capable of travelling more than 20 km/h but no more than 25 km/h – while preserving the wider benefits of electric scooters as an urban transport option.
Only scooters up to 25 km/h are legal
The new rule applies only to electric scooters and other powered personal mobility devices whose construction-determined maximum speed is more than 20 km/h and no more than 25 km/h.
Electric scooters with a construction-determined maximum speed of more than 25 km/h are not permitted on public roads.
What about shared scooters?
Operators of shared electric scooters can limit their vehicles to 20 km/h. In some cities, such a speed limit is already a condition of their operating permit, and limiting shared scooters to 20 km/h is already common practice in many locations.
Users of shared scooters will therefore not have to wear a helmet provided that the scooter genuinely cannot exceed 20 km/h.
The Belgian authorities say the relevant information will be updated ahead of the rules coming into force on 1 September 2026.
