Cyprus Traffic Police warn about children on e-scooters: vehicles may be confiscated for up to 90 days

Cyprus Traffic Police has said that the use of e-scooters must be urgently regulated. Speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary transport committee, Traffic Police Chief Haris Evripidou described uncontrolled rides on these devices as one of the main causes of serious accidents on the island.

“We see 12- and 13-year-olds doing wheelies on scooters. If we do not want minors to be injured, parents must be the first to protect their children,” Evripidou said. According to him, the issue has been under discussion for more than two years, but without the necessary infrastructure, primarily from local authorities, it has been impossible to make progress: cycle lanes come to an end, leaving scooters nowhere to continue their journey.

The draft decree was prepared by the Public Works Department. The document has been submitted for public consultation on the e-Consultation platform, with comments accepted until 26 September, after which the text will be sent to the Law Office for legal review.

The decree raises the minimum age for riding an e-scooter to 17 and retains the maximum speed limit of 25 km/h. Riding will be permitted only on cycling infrastructure and in zones with a 30 km/h speed limit — ordinary urban streets where the limit is 50 km/h will remain off-limits to scooters.

For three violations — riding in an unauthorised location, riding by a person under 17 and exceeding 25 km/h — police or authorised municipal inspectors will be able to confiscate the scooter for between 30 and 90 days. After 30 days, the owner will be able to collect the device by paying the fine; if the fine is not paid, the scooter will remain in storage until the court proceedings are concluded.

At the same time, the authorities are developing the infrastructure: in Nicosia, more than 100 scooter parking spaces are being prepared, and the number of 30 km/h zones is being expanded. Evripidou added that most scooter users are foreigners, so the police are also preparing information materials in English.