Fredericton looks to make helmets mandatory for e-scooters

It may soon be illegal to ride an e-scooter without a helmet in Fredericton.

Fredericton city council discussed changes to the city’s mobility bylaw on Monday night, which would bring e-scooters under the existing rules governing the trail system for cyclists.

“We’re trying to formalize everything in a way that it’s clear to the public what’s permitted on the trails, what’s not permitted on the trails and what’s expected of everyone,” said Tyson Aubie, a traffic engineer for the city.

If passed at third reading, e-scooter riders would be explicitly subject to helmet bylaws and trail speed limits. The fine for breaking the bylaw starts at $25 and can grow to $1,100 for those who repeatedly fail to pay the fines.

Aubie said the city will likely start with an education campaign to give people the chance to adapt and learn the rules, rather than levying fines right away for those who may be unknowingly breaking the new rules.

“I think step one is going to be education, I think the city is going to go on quite an education campaign to really get this message out to people,” he said.

“I definitely don’t think it would be fair for the city to just start handing out tickets once this is approved.”

The proposed changes would also tweak the speed limit on the city’s trails, which is currently set at 15 km/h. If approved, the amended bylaw would set the general speed limit at 25 km/h. Aubie said the city found the limit was quite low, pointing out that another member of the city’s engineering team can jog at a pace of 16 km/h, technically breaking the existing bylaw.

1:45 Fredericton mulls new e-scooter bylaw

Chair of the city’s mobility committee, Bruce Grandy, said that the new speed limit will work well in the less pedestrian heavy areas of the trail network, as it moves away from the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge and the South and North side river front portions of the trail system.

“We want to make sure that there’s a decent speed in there, as long as you meet the etiquette requirements, the helmets the bells.”

In more pedestrian heavy areas the speed limit will be limited to 10 km/h, which is the current limit on the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge. Aubie said the city will start looking at other areas to impose that newer limit if and when the proposed changes are approved.

“I’d say the North Riverfront Trail, the South Riverfront Trial—places where you have a lot of density, a lot of people walking, a lot of conflict,” he said.

“I think once this gets approved at third reading we’re going to go on kind of a deep dive on what segments of trail really should have that.”