Overview
- Over the weekend regional police reports showed a string of severe road incidents that included a tram striking a 24‑year‑old e‑scooter rider in Munich who suffered a skull‑brain injury and other serious crashes now under active investigation.
- Local authorities in North Rhine‑Westphalia have proposed that e‑scooter users prove basic traffic knowledge before riding and that cities gain powers to limit fleets and parking after accident figures climbed sharply in 2025.
- Police controls continue to turn up manipulated scooters able to reach extreme speeds and numerous rule violations such as underage riders, intoxication and missing insurance plates, complicating public‑safety efforts.
- Prosecutors face high proof thresholds: the Ulm public prosecutor recently dropped a year‑old investigation into a suspected illegal car race that caused a fatal crash because investigators could not establish who was driving.
- Longer term context shows rapid growth in scooter exposure — about 1.66 million e‑scooters were insured nationwide by end‑2025 — which officials say increases the urgency of clearer rules, mandatory safety instruction and technical checks.