As he gears up for another ride on his e-scooter, Rob Kristjansson said he always watches his speed. He’s hopeful other riders will do the same once new rules come into effect next year. “It is a good thing that they are recognizing that this is another way that Winnipeggers are getting around and they are making the use legitimate,” Kristjansson said on Tuesday. Coming in 2027, the province will have new regulations for e-scooter riders and personal electric vehicles under the Highway Traffic Act. Among the new rules, riders must be at least 16 years old, wear a helmet and speed limits will be set at a maximum of 25 km/h. “I am 80 per cent happy, of course there’s a couple of eye rollers in those regulations and one or two eye pokers that I, let’s say, the devils in the details there and I don’t like that,” Kristjansson said. Kristjansson is an advocate for e-scooter usage in the city. He said having an age limit and restricted speed is a good thing, but he worries about where e-scooter users can ride. “They’ve built sidewalks wide enough and they call it mixed-use … am I allowed to be on that?” he said. In a release from the province, personal electric vehicles will not be allowed on sidewalks and roads with speed limits greater than 50 km/h. E-bikes are not subject to these restrictions. Coun. Janice Lukes, chair of Winnipeg’s public works committee, said the new rules are long overdue. However, she said enforcing speed and age limits will be the real challenge for police. “I have no idea how they are going to do it, because if they have five e-bikes, we know the five e-bikes won’t be out 24/7,” Lukes said. “If they’re having the time of their life, this summer, last summer on scooters, it’s going to be really hard to reign them in.” Lukes points to the Winnipeg Police Service deploying five officers on e-bikes to patrol different multi-use pathways across the city. Insp. Helen Peters of the Winnipeg Police Service said there are too many young riders getting injured on e-scooters across Canada. She said officers will start with education as a prevention strategy. “Enforcement will be a piece of this in 2027, and we’ll focus on that repetitive behaviour, those serious incidents and the community complaints that come in from us because really, it’s the public that are driving this,” Peters said. “They’ve grown in such popularity and with that growth has come the numbers. With the numbers have come the collisions and the safety risks and real-life changing injuries.” In a statement to CTV News, Lisa Naylor, minister of transportation and infrastructure, said the legislation is aimed at “preventing injuries, protecting kids and making our roads and communities safer for everyone.” “We know more Manitobans are using e-scooters and other electric devices to get around, and we want to make sure they’re doing it safely. We’re especially concerned about the number of young people being injured, which is why we’re bringing in clearer rules to help protect kids and everyone sharing our roads.” Peters said the public can expect to see a mix of things next year from officers going down bike paths monitoring speed limits based off that community feedback down popular trails. She said the WPS is aware of e-scooter users tinkering with the mechanisms on these electric vehicles to allow the rider to travel at high speeds. “We’ve seen them travelling at 60, 70, kilometers an hour, passing cars on the highways,” Peters said. “I would suggest that if you’re on an e-scooter and you’re going faster than the motor vehicles travelling beside you, you should be aware that you are probably going faster than 25 kilometres an hour.”
