Road safety

Electric scooters and bicycles: should additional lights be settled?

Publié le 03 décembre 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

A decree on the visibility of motorized bicycles and personal transport equipment (electric scooters, hoverboards, gyropods...) was published in the Official Journal November 29, 2024. You can now settle additional lighting or signaling devices on these vehicles, if you wish, to improve your safety on the road.

To ensure your safety and the safety of other road users, your bicycle, scooter, or any other Personal Moving Power Device (PDU) that you use must be equipped with certain lighting and signaling devices. Some of them are mandatory to drive at night or during the day when visibility is insufficient (fog, tunnel...). In these situations, motorized bicycles and personal mobility devices (electric scooters, hoverboards, gyropods...) must be equipped with:

  • a position lamp emitting towards the front a non-dazzling yellow or white light;
  • a rear position lamp, not flashing, which must be clearly visible from the rear when the vehicle is in use.

You can now settle an additional front position lamp and/or rear position lamp on your bicycle or personal transport device, which meet the same technical specifications as those required. You can also carry these additional lighting devices with you if you wish.

It is also now specified in the highway code that you can equip your bike or your EDPM with a stop light at the rear and flashing lights. These luminous devices can also be placed on you.

FYI  

All motorized bicycles and personal transport equipment must also be fitted with orange retro-reflectors, visible from the side; this is a light-reflecting system used to signal the vehicle to other road users. However, these side reflective devices are not mandatory if your vehicle tires are already equipped with them.

Please note

The decree published in Official Journal on 29 november 2024, cyclists traveling without a trailer or side-car are now allowed to ride in pairs at night on greenways, pedestrian areas and meeting areas, unless the situation requires them to fall back (narrow pavement...). Until then, they had to queue up from sunset.

Agenda