Riders of electronic scooters will be required to wear helmets in Barcelona under a new law which comes into effect on Saturday in Spain’s second-largest city.
E-scooter usage has surged in Spain in recent years but the boom has been accompanied by a rise in accidents and complaints from drivers and pedestrians about riders flouting safety and parking rules which have led to restrictions on their use.
Riders of e-scooters who do not wear a helmet will be fined 100 euros ($105).
To protect pedestrians, e-scooters will no longer be allowed on pavements. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to 500 euros.
Bicycles are also banned from sidewalks, except for cyclists accompanied by minors.
The use of e-scooters for those under the age of 16 was already banned by Barcelona, which imposed a 25-kilometre (15-mile) per hour speed limit on them.
Barcelona had already required operators of rental e-scooters, following other cities such as Paris and Madrid.
