Cross-Nordic comparisons: National and local regulations related to adolescents

Rules and regulations vary on, for example, electric scooters, helmet use, or cycling on sidewalks.
Pictured: Teenager riding an e-scooter in Stavanger, Norway. Gustavo Muñoz Soriano / iStock.

Rules and regulations vary on, for example, electric scooters, helmet use, or cycling on sidewalks. Pictured: Teenager riding an e-scooter in Stavanger, Norway. Gustavo Muñoz Soriano / iStock.

National laws related to cycling and age

During the Nordic Cycle Network workshop about adolescents, several points emerged with regards to traffic safety, particularly when it comes to traffic laws and helmet use among young people. As noted in Planning memo 2: Data, communication, and political advocacy (Rohrer & Kačkus Tybjerg, 2026), many communication strategies focus on traffic safety for children, and there is some debate on whether policy is the appropriate way to encourage safer transport (compared to, or alongside, other alternatives such as changes in the built environment that support safe cycling).

Across the Nordic countries, national-level regulations vary on helmet use as well as other safety-related measures like permission to cycle on the sidewalk and age requirements for cycling alone (see Table 3). For example, in Finland, helmets are required for all cyclists, whereas in Sweden, helmets are only required for children under 15 years old. Iceland is similar to Sweden in this regard (children under 16 years old must wear a helmet), while Denmark and Norway, on the other hand, have no helmet requirements regardless of age. All the countries, however, have a helmet requirement for riding e-scooters. While most Nordic countries do not allow cycling or riding an e-scooter on a sidewalk, Norway permits them, and Iceland permits them if a parallel path for cyclists is unavailable. In Finland and Sweden, only children up to a certain age can cycle on the sidewalk (up to 12 and 8 years old, respectively). The association between age and sidewalk cycling may be due to perceived safety concerns for younger cyclists, who travel at speeds relative to walking compared to cycle path users. The countries also have various age limitations for cycling alone—from 6 years old in Denmark to 9 years old in Iceland. In contrast, Finland, Norway, and Sweden do not have specific age requirements for cycling alone. However, this is not the case for e-scooters, which have legal age restrictions in all Nordic countries except for Sweden, whether riding alone or not.

	Is there a national law requiring the use of a helmet?	Is there a national law allowing one to cycle on the sidewalk?	Is there a minimum age for cycling alone?
Denmark	Bicycles and e-bikes (up to 25 km/h): No helmet requirement E-scooters: Yes, helmets required (penalty of 1500 DKK)	Bicycles: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk E-scooters: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk	Bicycles: Children under 6 years old must be accompanied by someone 15 years or older. E-scooters: Children under 15 years old must be accompanied by an adult (18 years or older)
Finland	Bicycles: Yes, helmets required (but no penalties) E-scooters: Yes, helmets required (but no penalties)	Bicycles: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk, except for children under 12 years old E-scooters: Forbidden on sidewalk	Bicycles: No age restriction E-scooters: driver must be 15 years old
Iceland	Bicycles: Yes, helmets required for children under 16 years old E-scooters (up to 25 km/h): Yes, helmets required for children under 16 years old (penalty of 20 000 ISK)	Bicycles: Allowed to ride on sidewalk if no bicycle path is parallel E-scooters: Allowed to ride on sidewalk if no bicycle path is parallel	Bicycles: Children under 9 years old must be accompanied by someone 15 years or older E-scooters: Children must be 13 years old to ride an e-scooter (penalty of 20 000 ISK)
Norway	Bicycles: No helmet requirement E-scooters (up to 20 km/h): Yes, helmets required for children under 15 years old	Bicycles: Allowed to ride on sidewalk E-scooters: Allowed to ride on sidewalk	Bicycles: No age restriction E-scooters: driver must be 12 years old
Sweden	Bicycles: Yes, helmets required for children under 15 years old (penalty for adults if they are accompanying a child without a helmet) E-scooters (up to 20 km/h): Yes, helmets required for children under 15 years old	Bicycles: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk, except for children under 8 years old (penalty of 500 SEK) E-scooters: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk	Bicycles: No age restriction E-scooters: No age restriction

Table 3. Nordic laws for wearing a helmet, cycling on the sidewalk, and cycling alone.

	Is there a national law requiring the use of a helmet?	Is there a national law allowing one to cycle on the sidewalk?	Is there a minimum age for cycling alone?
Denmark	Bicycles and e-bikes (up to 25 km/h): No helmet requirement E-scooters: Yes, helmets required (penalty of 1500 DKK)	Bicycles: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk E-scooters: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk	Bicycles: Children under 6 years old must be accompanied by someone 15 years or older. E-scooters: Children under 15 years old must be accompanied by an adult (18 years or older)
Finland	Bicycles: Yes, helmets required (but no penalties) E-scooters: Yes, helmets required (but no penalties)	Bicycles: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk, except for children under 12 years old E-scooters: Forbidden on sidewalk	Bicycles: No age restriction E-scooters: driver must be 15 years old
Iceland	Bicycles: Yes, helmets required for children under 16 years old E-scooters (up to 25 km/h): Yes, helmets required for children under 16 years old (penalty of 20 000 ISK)	Bicycles: Allowed to ride on sidewalk if no bicycle path is parallel E-scooters: Allowed to ride on sidewalk if no bicycle path is parallel	Bicycles: Children under 9 years old must be accompanied by someone 15 years or older E-scooters: Children must be 13 years old to ride an e-scooter (penalty of 20 000 ISK)
Norway	Bicycles: No helmet requirement E-scooters (up to 20 km/h): Yes, helmets required for children under 15 years old	Bicycles: Allowed to ride on sidewalk E-scooters: Allowed to ride on sidewalk	Bicycles: No age restriction E-scooters: driver must be 12 years old
Sweden	Bicycles: Yes, helmets required for children under 15 years old (penalty for adults if they are accompanying a child without a helmet) E-scooters (up to 20 km/h): Yes, helmets required for children under 15 years old	Bicycles: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk, except for children under 8 years old (penalty of 500 SEK) E-scooters: Forbidden to ride on sidewalk	Bicycles: No age restriction E-scooters: No age restriction

Bicycle and e-scooter share services

Bike share programs are often considered a strong enabler for increased cycling. However, age limitations of bike share programs, while encouraging safe ridership, may also be a barrier to enabling adolescents to cycle. Almost all cities in the network have a local bike-share system or agreements with private companies who have permission to operate bicycles or e-scooters in the city. While they must abide by national regulations, many private companies—such as Donkey Republic, Voi, Lime, CityBike, or Bolt—also have their own requirements for ensuring safe riding. In places like Sweden where no age restrictions exist for e-scooters, this means that private companies hold the responsibility for enforcing their own age restrictions (18 years old for the e-scooter sharing companies Bolt, Voi, and Lime; Bolt, n.d.; Voi, n.d.; Lime., n.d.). Whether age restrictions should be set by companies, the state, or parents themselves is up for debate, and it remains unclear whether unification between public and private actors can have a significant impact. Further studies comparing Denmark and Finland (where helmets are required for all e-scooter riders, regardless of age) to, for example, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (where requirements only exist under specific ages) could help to identify whether shared requirements across actors enable higher likelihood of abiding by safety rules, as well as whether such rules have a noticeable effect on the overall safety of cyclists, e-scooter riders, and others.

The common age limit for most bicycle and e-scooter subscription services in the Nordic Region is 18 years old, with some minor exceptions from companies like Donkey Republic (which allows younger adolescents to ride through an older registrant) and Norwegian-based e-scooter company Ryde (whose terms and conditions designate a 15-year-old age limit; DonkeyRepublic, n.d.; Ryde, n.d.). Local bicycle share systems in Finnish cities Helsinki and Tampere are unique in their 15-year-old age limit as well (HSL, n.d.; Nysse, n.d.).