Online guides help electric scooters exceed the legal speed limit

Social media platforms are full of guides showing how to make electric scooters travel faster than allowed, DR reports. Several police districts have seized scooters this summer, including one this week that could reach 146 kilometres per hour.

Videos, guides and contacts for modifying scooters can be found with just a few clicks on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok. The Road Safety Council, a road safety organisation, is urging people not to modify their scooters.

It is legal to ride an electric scooter at up to 20 kilometres per hour in public traffic. The council says parents in particular must ensure that their children do not use scooters capable of exceeding that limit.

“Parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children travel safely and legally in traffic, just as they are responsible for how their children use their mobile phones and whether they drink alcohol,” said Jakob Bøving Arendt, chief executive of the Road Safety Council.

For some scooters, exceeding the limit requires only a few clicks on the display and a press of the brake. Other models must be modified mechanically.

Police say children under 15 are also riding scooters that can travel far faster than the permitted 20 kilometres per hour on public roads. The Road Safety Council is warning parents to understand the consequences if a child is stopped by police or involved in an accident.

“If an electric scooter can travel faster than permitted, then in the eyes of the police it is no longer simply an electric scooter. It is categorised as a moped, a large moped or even a motorcycle,” Bøving Arendt said. Different rules then apply to insurance, required safety equipment and driving licences.

Student modifies scooters but refuses to help children

In a shed in his backyard in Skanderborg, student Andreas Sørensen repairs electric scooters in his spare time. He taught himself how to make them go faster by installing new software after watching YouTube videos and reading online material.

“It is too easy. I have basically just watched a lot of videos on YouTube and read things on the internet. It is very simple,” Sørensen said.

What Sørensen does is not illegal in itself. However, he has decided not to help everyone modify their scooters.

“It is simply too dangerous. I have set my own limit and will not do it for young people, especially children, but the neighbour may not set the same limit,” he said.

DR said it had sought comments from several Chinese electric scooter manufacturers, but had not received a response.