The Antwerp-based ZAS Hospital Group is advocating a ban on shared e-scooters between midnight and 8 a.m., according to Gazet van Antwerpen. With this proposal, emergency services aim to halt the rise in accidents involving this mode of transportation.

However well-intentioned it may be – and understandable given the frustration of emergency room doctors who deal with victims daily – the proposal is more of a Band-Aid solution than a targeted measure, and it is unfair to those who do use the e-scooters properly.

Nevertheless, the ZAS proposal already exists in a few cities, mostly in Europe, with sometimes striking results.

More accidents and victims

While there were 34 traffic accident victims involving e-scooters in Antwerp in 2019, that number rose to 342 in 2025. This mode of transportation ranks third in the “bicycle” category. The number of accidents involving e-scooters rose by 41% compared to 2024, and the number of victims by 31%.

According to Kurt Anseeuw, head of the emergency department at ZAS, Belgium’s largest hospital group with 13 campuses, injuries tend to be more severe at night. “People who go out in the city often take a shared e-scooter to get home. In some cases, they are under the influence of alcohol, for example. Moreover, these people are not used to riding on an e-scooter.”

According to figures from the Antwerp police, however, these accidents mainly involve private e-scooters, rather than shared e-scooters. Shared e-scooters are safer due to their larger wheels, and the providers also impose a speed limit.

Selective

In any case, the ZAS proposal is once again stirring up controversy over the use of e-scooters in traffic. But no matter how well-intentioned the proposal may be, it targets the e-scooters themselves when the real problem is user behavior.

Moreover, by introducing such a nighttime ban, you also penalize users who use this sustainable mode of transport correctly and for whom it is a necessary means of transportation at night – for example, to get to work – whether as a supplement to or a replacement for public transportation. Plus, the selectivity is difficult to justify. Nighttime car and bicycle accidents are not addressed in the same way, even though the logic should be identical, and the car is, after all, by far the most dangerous vehicle.

A mandatory helmet (the Royal Decree is ready), speed limits via GPS, a higher minimum age, alcohol locks (Bolt has a mandatory in-app alcohol test for nighttime users), or targeted alcohol checks are less intrusive and might be more effective.

Curfews in several EU and US cities

Although this is quite rare in Europe, several U.S. cities impose nighttime curfews or complete bans on shareable e-scooters to curb accidents and injuries. This is the case in Houston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Miami. But we also see that cities such as Atlanta, which previously shut down rental e-scooters for seven hours every single night, rolled back parts of the ban to better accommodate late-night commuters, and that personal e-scooter owners are exempt from the curfew.

In Europe, the Scandinavian countries stand out for their stricter shared e-scooter policies. In Oslo, a nighttime ban was introduced in 2021, precisely because emergency services were being overwhelmed: the number of e-scooter accidents dropped by more than half in the months that followed.

Subsequently, the rules were relaxed, and e-scooters were no longer blocked at night, partly because the Norwegian government equated the regulations for e-scooters with those for cars: a strict zero-tolerance policy for driving under the influence (Norway strictly enforces a 0,02% blood alcohol concentration limit); and you also risk a massive fine and could even lose your driver’s license.

But because the city has since allowed more shared e-scooters, increasing the number from 8,000 to 16,000 vehicles, the number of accidents has risen again, and providers must once more suspend service at night between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Several cities in Finland have also introduced strict rules, including Helsinki and Turku. A study based on patient records showed that the risk of injuries fell by about half after the measures were introduced in Helsinki: from 528 injuries in the comparison period of 2021 to 318 in 2022.

The most extreme example is, of course, Paris, where, following a controversial referendum, shared e-scooters have been completely banned since 2023. Madrid and Prague also have bans on shared e-scooters, although in Prague the ban applies only to the historic center, and in both cities the bans were implemented due to parking issues and risks to pedestrians.