The new Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023 has recently been signed into law. The Act provides a wide-ranging and significant piece of legislation in order to modernise the country’s Road Traffic Acts.
One of the most significant additions to the Act is the resolution of legal barriers to e-scooters.
Although e-scooters are regularly seen on streetscape, they are not yet legal to use on public roads.
The new Act introduces a new class of vehicle called Personal Power Transporters (PPTs).
These regulations will now classify e-scooters as PPTs and allow the Minister for Justice to specify the appropriate power, speed, weight values along with other technical and usage requirements for e-scooters.
Once these regulations are commenced, any e-scooter that do not comply with new regulations will not be able to be used on public roads.
The Act also puts e-bikes on a legal footing.
E-bikes with a maximum output of 250W and a motor cut off speed of 25 km/hr will be treated as bicycles under Irish law.
E-bikes that go faster than 25 km/hr or have greater output than 250W and those that can operate without pedalling will now be classified as an e-moped.
Under this new categorisation, e-mopeds will be seen as motorised vehicles and which will require a licence, registration, tax and insurance to be on the Irish roads.