Electric scooters are cheap, modern, nimble, green: everything you’d want in a way to get about. They let people move through town without the hassle of a car. So yes, it’s a genuinely useful bit of kit, one that can work in the public’s favour.
The trouble is how people actually use them. There’s legislation on the books that, properly enforced, would go a long way toward making scooter use safer. What’s obviously missing is more of it: more checks, more often. And we’d go further: what’s needed isn’t just more checks, it’s demanded, but a rewrite of the law as it stands.
The infrastructure isn’t there. Can it be built? Just days ago in parliament, a representative from the Department of Public Works admitted as much: the existing road network simply isn’t fit for personal mobility devices, scooters, in plain terms. He was quick to add, though, that no country has cycling infrastructure everywhere, and Cyprus won’t be the exception.
Here’s what we’d suggest: build more cycling infrastructure than exists today. That alone would take a good chunk of scooters off the roads, and it needs to happen, because right now scooter riders are plainly being put in harm’s way.
The police figures make the trend clear. In 2024, two injury incidents were recorded, one of them serious. In 2025, that jumped to 15, six of them serious. This year alone, so far, nine incidents: two fatal, four serious. Nine of those cases involved minors. That’s a problem in its own right, and one that needs sorting now, not later.
Complaints follow the same trajectory. 2,499 in 2024, 2,766 in 2025, and already 5,141 so far this year. According to police, most of these complaints come down to one thing: scooters being ridden where they shouldn’t be.
What’s undeniable is this: both accidents and complaints are climbing steeply. That’s down to more scooters on the road, yes, but also, at times, to people riding them recklessly.
So what’s needed? More checks. Proper, systematic checks on the streets. And an overhaul of the law as it stands. The two go hand in hand, which is exactly why action on both fronts can’t wait any longer.
