If a car driver sees a scooter suddenly dart out from behind a parked "Gazelle", they usually only have time to hit the brakes. And if they couldn't stop, the main question arises: who will be at fault in the collision?
A story from the Lipetsk region, which made headlines in September 2026, shows an unexpected scenario. In some cases, a person on an electric scooter is considered a driver of a mechanical vehicle from a legal point of view. And then the consequences of an accident can be completely different from what many are used to thinking.
This is about a 71-year-old resident of Novaya Derevnya near Lipetsk. On the morning of August 17, 2024, she was riding an electric scooter on the oncoming lane. According to the investigation, the speed was unsafe. The woman did not notice a 65-year-old pensioner standing at the edge of the road and hit her.
The victim sustained a closed head injury, skull fractures, and a brain contusion. After the investigation, the prosecutor of the Lipetsk district approved the indictment and sent the case to court.
But the most interesting thing in this story is not even related to the age of the accident participants.
Why the scooter was recognized as a moped
At first glance, it seems that this is an ordinary electric scooter. However, an expert examination determined its power to be 500 W. According to the expert's conclusion, such a device belongs to mopeds.
The woman did not have a driver's license. As a result, the actions were qualified under paragraph "c" of part 2 of Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - violation of traffic rules by a person driving a mechanical vehicle and not having the right to drive, if this negligently caused serious harm to health.
The sanction of the article provides for three to seven years of imprisonment.
This results in a rather unusual situation: outwardly, a person is riding a scooter, but legally, the consequences of their actions can be assessed according to the rules applied to the driver of a mechanical vehicle.
That is why it is worth looking at the power of your device not only when buying, but also before the first trip on the road.
Age is not the main thing here
The news received additional attention due to the fact that the accused is 71 years old. But the mechanism of the incident itself practically does not depend on age.
An oncoming lane, unsafe speed, and a person at the edge of the road - such a combination can arise regardless of who is behind the wheel: a pensioner, a young courier, or an ordinary owner of a personal scooter.
The problem is different. The small size of personal mobility devices (PMDs) creates the feeling that it is almost a toy, and not a full-fledged participant in traffic. But the speed and mass of modern models allow the consequences of an error to be quite similar to those of a car accident. And statistics confirm this.
Scooter accidents are increasing
According to the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, from January to August 2026, about 3.4 thousand accidents involving personal mobility devices were registered in Russia. This is 37% more than in the same period last year. In these accidents, 51 people died, and about 3.6 thousand more were injured. In 68% of registered incidents, the cause was a violation of traffic rules by the riders themselves.
A particularly large number of accidents occur in regions with a large number of scooters. Among the leaders in the number of incidents are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai, Nizhny Novgorod, and Chelyabinsk Oblasts.
The situation is familiar to drivers: a scooter can appear where it is difficult to notice in advance - when leaving a yard, at an intersection, or behind a parked car. And if a collision occurs, the explanation "I didn't see him" does not in itself resolve the issue of guilt. The circumstances of the accident will have to be established separately.
Rules for scooters already exist
At the same time, it can no longer be said that there are no rules for PMDs in Russia at all. Since 2023, traffic rules have established requirements for their movement. Users are subject to speed limits, pedestrian priority on sidewalks, and a ban on carrying passengers on a single-seat scooter.
For powerful devices, a different principle applies: if a specific vehicle, by its characteristics, belongs to a moped, then the corresponding requirements apply to its driver, including those related to the right to drive. This was the key circumstance in the Lipetsk case.
What will change by 2028
The next stage of regulation is already laid down in the state plan for improving road safety.
Government Decree No. 14 of May 14, 2026, provides for the development of measures for the state registration of personal mobility devices, including the assignment of a registration number and the installation of state registration plates. The deadline for preparing the relevant report to the government is set for 2028. It also provides for the development of the legal status of PMDs and rules for their use.
That is, the idea of making personal scooters identifiable is no longer just being discussed - it is included in the official action plan. At the same time, there is still a noticeable difference between rental and personal PMDs.
A rental scooter allows a specific trip to be linked to a specific user through an application. A personal scooter, as a rule, does not have such a digital link. As a result, it is much more difficult to identify an offender on a personal device if they could not be stopped immediately after the incident.
How this issue is resolved in Germany
In Germany, an electric scooter has long been considered a vehicle, not a toy. For electric scooters allowed to operate, mandatory third-party liability insurance is provided, and a special insurance sticker serves as confirmation. It is placed on the back of the vehicle.
There is also a speed limit: the corresponding class of electric scooters is designed for a maximum of 20 km/h. They are allowed to be driven from the age of 14. This results in a system of several elements:
- the vehicle is identified;
- the owner has mandatory insurance;
- technical requirements are established;
- there is an age threshold;
- a specific user is responsible for violations.
This is not a ban on scooters, but an attempt to integrate them into the existing system of road responsibility.
Other countries have taken different paths
There is no single regulatory model. Paris, for example, several years ago, after a residents' vote, abandoned rental electric scooters. Personal devices were not banned, however.
In Denmark, the focus was on head protection. After the mandatory use of helmets was introduced in Copenhagen, the proportion of scooter users wearing helmets in a study increased from 1.8% to 5.56%. Researchers specifically noted that this was about the change in the indicator after the introduction of the requirement, and not an assessment of all the consequences of the law. This results in several different approaches:
- complete or partial ban on rentals;
- mandatory insurance;
- vehicle identification;
- equipment requirements;
- speed limit;
- age restrictions.
They all have one thing in common: the scooter is considered a participant in traffic, not a household gadget.
What a driver should do in an accident with a scooter
While the system for identifying personal PMDs is still developing, it is important for a car driver to act as carefully as in a normal accident.
If a collision occurs, it is better not to try to settle it on the spot and drive away, especially if there are injuries or a dispute about who violated the rules. You need to:
- call State Traffic Safety Inspectorate officers;
- record the position of the cars and the scooter;
- video record the vehicle itself and its driver;
- save dashcam recordings;
- record witnesses and the surrounding environment.
A scooter can indeed leave very quickly. If the device and its driver disappear before the incident is documented, it will be more difficult to establish the circumstances of the accident.
And most importantly - check the power of your scooter
The Lipetsk case is indicative precisely because outwardly it was a small two-wheeled device. But the expert examination established a power of 500 W and classified it as a moped. The driver did not have the right to drive, and after a collision with a pedestrian, the case went to court. Therefore, before riding, it is worth opening the instructions or technical documentation of your device and finding out its characteristics.
It is especially important to understand which category of vehicles it belongs to according to current rules. The very fact that the seller calls the device an "electric scooter" does not yet determine its legal status.
Ultimately, the question is not about the age of the person behind the wheel, or even how small the scooter seems. More important is that the person behind the wheel is a full-fledged participant in road traffic, and an error on the road can lead to consequences comparable to a regular accident.
And the faster personal PMDs get a clear system of identification and responsibility, the easier it will be to establish who was behind the wheel at the time of the accident.