About one in seven, or 15 per cent, of electric scooter riders who were breathalysed on weekend evenings found intoxicated, according to a surveillance campaign carried out in four cities on the weekends in late August and early September.
The surveillance took place on 22 August, 23 August and 5 September 2025 in a pre-planned manner in Helsinki, Turku, Oulu and Joensuu, said National Police Board in a press release on Wednesday.
The police breathalysed a total of 478 riders of electric scooters. A traffic penalty fee for driving while intoxicated was imposed on 70 riders of electric scooters.
Riding an electric scooter while intoxicated was especially commonplace in the late evening hours, when up to about one out of five of those who were breathalysed rode the scooter while intoxicated at a level that led to a sanction.
In two different towns, Oulu and Turku, a total of about a fifth of those sanctioned also carried passengers on the electric scooter, which is not allowed by law.
About 10 per cent of riders of electric scooters in three towns (Helsinki, Oulu and Joensuu) gave a breathalyser sample that was below the penalty limit.
During the summer, between 17 June and 31 August 2025, the police imposed a total of about 700 traffic penalty fees for violating the above-mentioned section, in other words for riding an electric scooter while intoxicated in a state of intoxication of at least 0.5 per mil.
About 40 per cent of these penalties were imposed in the areas of the police departments of Southwest Finland, Oulu and Eastern Finland.
About 70 per cent of all penalties were imposed on Fridays and Saturdays. Four out of five traffic penalty fees were imposed in the evenings between 7:00 pm and 2:00 am.
There is clearly variation between different towns, but the problem itself, in other words riding while intoxicated, can be observed in all towns where electric scooters are available for rent.
However, the proportions are different in relation to the extent of the problem.
- e-scooter
- Riders
- Intoxicated
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
