Ottawa police are cracking down on e-scooter misuse by launching enforcement blitzes in neighbourhoods across the city. On Friday, Sgt. Josh Callaghan told 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron that police are currently targeting the Findlay Creek and Riverside South areas, looking out for underage driving, unsafe operation and speeding. “We’re just trying to make our way around the city and distribute our resources in a responsible way to make sure that we’re encompassing many parts of the city and we’re covering many parts of the city to crack down on this misuse,” he said. Callaghan said the initiative started at the beginning of the summer. The first blitz was focused on the downtown core, and officers also went to the Carlington area. According to Callaghan, officers are noticing an increase in underage driving of e-scooters. The legal minimum age to operate an e-scooter in Ottawa is 16. “We need to make sure that parents are really thinking twice before they’re buying these for their children, because no one under the age of 16 is supposed to be riding these things,” he said. Increase in e-scooter injuries In Ottawa, e-scooter injuries are up for children. In June, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) said they had seen an increase in both e-bike and e-scooter related injuries. According to CHEO, in a one-year period ending in May 2025, visits to CHEO related to e-scooter injuries increased by 50 per cent compared to the same period the year before. Both SickKids in Toronto and the Montreal Children’s Hospital have also said they’ve seen sharp increases in e-scooter-related injuries. E-scooters are regulated by an Ontario Highway Traffic Act Pilot Project and a City of Ottawa bylaw. Both sets of regulations were launched in 2020, and in 2024, they were extended to run until 2029. As Callaghan says, e-scooters are not permitted to exceed a maximum speed of 24 km/h, and they are not permitted to be driven on sidewalks. “They’re not permitted on sidewalks for obvious accessibility reasons for people who have accessibility needs,” he said. “We need to keep those sidewalks clear.” As far as age restrictions go, Callaghan says e-scooters are prohibited for those under the age of 16, and all those under 18 years of age must be wearing a helmet. Callaghan also says e-scooters can’t be ridden by more than one person, and they are not permitted to tow anything. “You can’t be pulling anyone on a skateboard or anything, or on another scooter, behind an e-scooter,” he said. Those caught speeding on an e-scooter are given a fine and must appear in court. Those under the age of 18 not wearing a helmet can face an $80 fine and riders under the age of 16 can be fined close to $170, Callaghan says. Rental e-scooters are widely available in Ottawa, but Callaghan says officers conducting the enforcement blitzes are seeing fewer issues with those devices. “They’re geo-fenced, so you can’t actually ride on the sidewalk and the City of Ottawa’s done a really good job making sure that these rental companies are abiding by these rules,” he said. While e-scooters are not supposed to drive faster than 24 km/h, Callaghan says riders are managing to exceed that speed. He says officers recently stopped a rider going more than twice the limit. “Fifty-two kilometers an hour — that was the fastest that I’ve seen so far,” he said. While some riders are modifying their e-scooters to allow them to reach higher speeds, Callaghan says most are manufactured to exceed the speed limit. “What our officers are seeing on the road, is that these — a lot of these — are coming stock. You’re just buying them from a manufacturer,” Callaghan said. As Callaghan puts it, the manufacturers do not need to abide by restrictions to sell e-scooters. “As far as I am aware, there’s no restriction on them to actually sell these devices,” he said. “It’s up to the users themselves to buy the appropriate devices and be aware of the restrictions that we have for the bylaws and the Ontario Regulations under the Highway Traffic Act for these e-scooters.” Caution to parents Stephanie Cowle, director of knowledge translation at Parachute, a Canadian charity concerned with injury prevention, told 580 CFRA that widespread availability of the devices leads many parents to presume that e-scooters aren’t dangerous. “For parents, I mean, you can buy e-scooters and e-bikes pretty much anywhere, online at big box stores, you see them everywhere,” Cowle said. “So, there is a bit of an assumption that these are safe. My kid can ride it like other kids, and I don’t blame parents for that. So, we need to give them the information to make informed choices.” Callaghan says he would like to see parents think twice before purchasing an e-scooter for their children. “Kids aren’t careless; they’re just carefree,” Callaghan said. “So, it’s up to the parents to make sure that they’re taking that extra step to make sure their kids aren’t riding these things if they’re under 16 years of age.”
