Brussels police crack down on modified high-speed scooters

Police in Brussels are targeting the owners of electric scooters that have been modified to be able to reach speeds as high as 105 kilometres per hour.

The legal limit is set to 25 km/h but the number of "souped-up" scooters that can travel much faster has increased.

A control operation at Place De Brouckère last week resulted in the confiscation of 20 scooters, including one capable of travelling at 106 km/h.

“We had been running a prevention campaign on TikTok and Instagram for several weeks,” explained commissioner David Stevens of the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police traffic department.

“The question is not whether your high-speed scooter will be confiscated, but when it will be. And we also watch the tutorials on TikTok, so we can see if it has been tampered with.”

The Place De Brouckère operation was extended to the entire Pentagon area and the inner ring road, where illegal scooters were ticketed and owners could face heavy fines.

Some confiscated scooters will be destroyed, while those that can be reconfigured to comply with the 25 km/h speed limit could be returned after a technical inspection.

“Drivers often say that they never drive in fast mode on public roads, but that's not the point. Your scooter simply cannot go faster than 25 kilometres per hour,” said Stevens.

“If it can, it’s the equivalent of a souped-up moped from the past. Many people are annoyed by them. In the city centre, for example, pedestrians are being forced off the road by these vehicles.”

The operation comes after a study from Belgian road safety institute Vias that marked a 13% increase in scooter accidents from 2023 to 2024.

There were 1,825 accidents involving electric scooters recorded in Belgium last year, including 541 in Brussels, and Vias suspects this figure underestimates the actual number of incidents.

The study also revealed that a large proportion of the population is unaware of basic rules for scooters, such as the ban on carrying passengers and the minimum age requirement (16 years old).

Authorities have noticed that many scooters are now equipped with a system that limits the maximum speed as soon as police are in sight, in a so-called "police mode".

During the new campaign, federal traffic police will check whether e-scooters have been modified.