Poland plans major reforms for cyclists and electric scooters

The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure is preparing significant legislative changes to road traffic regulations, focusing on young cyclists and electric scooter users. A key component of the reform is the restructuring of bicycle card requirements. The project proposes lowering the age for obtaining a bicycle card from 10 to 9 years and reducing the age at which a card is mandatory from 18 to 14 years. Additionally, the reform aims to end the legal classification of children under 10 as pedestrians when riding bicycles, granting them status as drivers to ensure more consistent rules for families traveling together.

Regarding electric scooters, Deputy Minister Stanisław Bukowiec announced plans to mandate that rental scooters be returned only to designated zones to prevent sidewalk obstructions. The Ministry also intends to empower the Transport Technical Supervision to monitor the market, with the ability to confiscate non-compliant vehicles and penalize distributors. New measures will also allow police to use specialized equipment to verify scooter speed and technical modifications. These changes are part of a broader effort to improve road safety and modernize transport regulations.