E-Scooters Spin Out of Control

E-scooters are back in the spotlight following new statistics from the State Traffic Inspectorate. The number of accidents involving them continues to rise, but given the expansion of the market itself, this is hardly surprising anymore. In recent years, scooters have evolved from niche transportation into mass transit—and this is directly reflected in accident figures. At the same time, there's growing discussion about a shift in the problem: whereas the focus used to be on scooter-sharing services, privately owned e-scooters—which are almost entirely unregulated—now account for a significant share of the market. 

Rising accident rates: what the new traffic police data shows

According to State Traffic Inspectorate data, between January and May 2026, Russia saw 1,160 accidents involving personal mobility devices. That's 32% more than during the same period a year earlier. Roughly 60% of accidents involving e-scooters are caused by user error. Most commonly, these are basic violations: speeding, riding on sidewalks, crossing pedestrian crossings without dismounting, and riding two to a scooter. 1,160 accidents involving personal mobility devices. That's 32% more than during the same period a year earlier. Roughly 60% of accidents involving e-scooters are caused by user error. Most commonly, these are basic violations: speeding, riding on sidewalks, crossing pedestrian crossings without dismounting, and riding two to a scooter.

Over the past several years, e-scooters have become far more mainstream: the number of trips, users, and devices themselves has increased. So the rise in accidents is largely tied to the fact that there are simply more trips being taken, not just a deterioration in road safety. These accidents resulted in 11 deaths over the five-month period, with around 1,230 people injured. For all of 2025, the toll was 68 deaths and 3,380 injuries.

When you look at the figures adjusted for usage volume, the picture appears calmer. In 2025, roughly 243 million trips were made on rental scooters in Russia, while the number of accidents involving personal mobility devices came to approximately 3,200. That works out to about 13 accidents per 1 million trips.

For comparison: in 2025, Russia recorded around 25,000 accidents involving pedestrians overall. Against that backdrop, the number of accidents involving electric transport represents about 13% of that level. 

The personal mobility device market is changing: rental scooters are no longer the main segment

Alongside the growth in accidents, the personal mobility device market itself is expanding. Just a few years ago, e-scooters in Russia were almost entirely synonymous with scooter-sharing. It was rental services that made this mode of transport mainstream: they rapidly expanded their fleets, entered new cities, and essentially set the rules of the game. For example, the largest operator Whoosh, by the end of 2024 completed nearly 150 million trips—up 44% year-over-year. The number of registered users grew to 27.6 million, while the scooter fleet exceeded 214,000 devices. In 2025, the market showed different dynamics. Despite the fact that the number of trips declined by 7% to 138.8 million, the number of registered users increased by another 22% to reach 33.7 million, and the scooter fleet grew to 249,700 devices.

It's important to account for the low base effect here: Russia's e-mobility market and infrastructure formed relatively recently, so even modest expansion in fleet size or user numbers in absolute terms translates into notable percentage growth. 

But the situation is now changing. More and more people are choosing to buy their own e-scooters instead of renting. According to market participants, sales grew 1.5–2 times in just January through April 2025, with Russians purchasing around 180,000 such devices over those four months. For regular riders, owning a personal scooter often proves cheaper and more convenient.

That's why attention is increasingly shifting from scooter-sharing to privately owned personal mobility devices. Major sharing services already operate under fairly strict rules, while owners of personal e-scooters remain outside this system. Meanwhile, no one accurately tracks the number of private e-scooters, and the country still has no unified registry for such devices. Against this backdrop, experts increasingly point out that rising accident rates are now linked not only to rental scooters but also to the rapid increase in personal devices, which today are virtually unregulated.

Scooter-sharing is already under control. Now it's time for private devices

Over the past two years, e-scooter regulation in Russia has primarily focused on scooter-sharing. Essentially, the rules are the same for all users—speed limits, requirements to use bike lanes, pedestrian priority. But today, it's mainly the rental services that can actually enforce compliance. They're the ones subject to key restrictions: speeds of 20–25 km/h, automatic slowdowns in certain city zones, ride bans in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic, and other requirements. 

Virtually the entire rental scooter fleet is equipped with geolocation and remote management systems. Operators can reduce speed, end a trip, or block a user. Additionally, services have introduced mandatory verification, fines for lending scooters to minors, and account blocking for repeat violations.

The situation with personal e-scooters looks completely different. After a violation or accident, identifying the owner is often far more difficult than with a rental scooter. Personal devices can technically have speed limiters installed, but in practice many simply don't use them or disable them. As a result, the government has almost no tools to actually control such scooters in motion.

That's precisely why authorities are discussing the next stage of regulation. The Ministry of Transport, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is preparing a package of amendments that would extend existing mechanisms not only to scooter-sharing but also to owners of private personal mobility devices. Among the initiatives under discussion are creating a federal e-scooter registry, mandatory registration of personal devices with assigned identification numbers, raising the minimum user age to 16, and expanding the mandatory identification system.

At the same time, the State Duma is discussing tougher penalties for the most dangerous violations — speeding, riding under the influence, and accidents with injuries.

The key question: will stricter enforcement help reduce accidents?

The electric scooter market has reached a point where restrictions on kicksharing alone are no longer enough. More and more people are switching to their own scooters, and this segment remains largely outside any system of control.

Essentially, three options for further action are now being discussed. The first is to extend the rules to owners of personal electric scooters: introduce device registration, a unified registry, and a clear system of liability. The second is to focus on urban infrastructure. Many cities still lack bike lanes and dedicated lanes for personal mobility devices, forcing scooter riders and pedestrians to share the same space.

There's also a third scenario — restrictions up to and including a complete ban. In summer 2025, Blagoveshchensk became the first city in Russia to completely ban the use of electric scooters within city limits. Authorities explained this by the large number of violations and resident complaints. In Elabuga that same year, kicksharing services were banned, with officials stating that the city wasn't yet ready for such transport due to the lack of necessary infrastructure.

Most likely, there won't be a one-size-fits-all solution here. Kicksharing services are already integrated into the urban system and have their own interest in retaining customers while simultaneously reducing accidents, so regulation of this part of the market will likely continue to be fine-tuned — through speed limits, zones, identification, and collaborative work with cities. But the situation with private scooters is more complicated: this segment is still barely regulated and controlled to the same extent as rentals, so it's precisely this area that the government still needs to build out — through registration, tracking, and unified rules.