PSD Tables a Helmet-and-Reflector Mandate for E-Scooters and E-Bikes With €30 to €150 Fines — Projeto-Lei Filed 22 May Leans on a GNR Seven-Year File of 1,900 Accidents, 10 Deaths and 88 Serious Injuries

The PSD parliamentary group filed a projeto-lei on Friday 22 May 2026 that would make helmet use compulsory for every rider of an electric micromobility vehicle on a public road, with a parallel obligation to wear reflective material in low-visibility or night conditions. The text lifts non-compliance into the contraordenação tier with fines pitched at €30 to €150, and the scope sweeps in trotinetes elétricas, bicicletas elétricas, monociclos, plataformas autoequilibradas and any analogous battery-powered circulation device. The bill arrives ahead of the summer commuting peak and slots into the same legislative window in which the GNR is publishing its annual child-road-casualty file.

The GNR Seven-Year File the Bill Leans On

The PSD justification document leans on a Guarda Nacional Republicana data set covering seven years of e-scooter incidents: 1,900 accidents in total, 10 fatalities, 88 serious injuries and 1,442 minor injuries. The serious-injury share — roughly 4.6% of the file — sits well above the equivalent share in the wider car-and-motorcycle road-casualty population and underpins the party's framing of micromobility as a road-safety priority rather than an urban-mobility convenience. The 22 May press conference in São Bento positioned the helmet rule as the first step, with party spokespeople flagging further measures including a licensing review and a circulation-zone framework.

What the Bill Actually Covers

The scope is broader than the public debate has flagged. The text covers electrically assisted bicycles even where the motor only kicks in above pedal speed — a category Portugal has so far treated as a conventional bicycle for road-code purposes — alongside the standalone-motor trotinete fleet that dominates Lisbon's micromobility share-scheme footprint. Reflective material is set as a parallel requirement, with the specific technical specifications to be defined by portaria after the bill clears the Assembleia. The €30-€150 fine band sits inside the existing road-code contraordenação framework, meaning enforcement falls to GNR and PSP traffic units without the need for a new sanctions track.

The Parliamentary Path Ahead

The projeto-lei now enters the standard parliamentary track — generalidade vote on the floor, specialidade work in the relevant comissão, then final overall vote. The PSD does not command a single-party majority, so the path to enactment runs through coalition partner CDS-PP and a probable parallel negotiation with PS or Chega for the floor count. Earlier road-safety packages — the 2024 distracted-driving framework and the 2025 speed-camera expansion — both cleared the chamber on cross-bench convergence rather than tight party-line votes. A two-to-three-month track from filing to publication in the Diário da República is the typical envelope, which would put the helmet rule in force ahead of the late-summer back-to-school commute if the floor count converges quickly.

What This Means for Expats

If you use a Lisbon share-scheme trotinete: the bill, once law, makes helmet-carry a daily-commute requirement; share operators will likely build helmet-distribution into the app-unlock flow to manage compliance risk on customer use.
If you commute by personal e-bike: the inclusion of pedal-assisted bicycles is the most consequential single change — Portugal has not until now treated e-bikes as a distinct vehicle class requiring helmet use.
If you employ delivery riders: the €30-€150 fine band sits within the existing road-code framework, and stricter enforcement against gig-economy riders has been signalled in successive ASAE operational reports.