A man in Reykjavík ended up in hospital with head and facial injuries after falling off a rental e-scooter at around 25 km/h in the city centre — and police say the combination of speed, no helmet and heavy intoxication tells a story they're seeing far too often.
Unnar Már Ástþórsson, a senior officer with the Capital Area Police, told Icelandic media that the crash happened overnight at a construction site in central Reykjavík. Officers are now checking whether the site was properly secured, since its condition may have played a part. But he was clear that the rider's condition was the bigger factor: the man was heavily drunk.
The wider picture is what matters for visitors. Ástþórsson said there has been a significant rise in e-scooter accidents, with most of them happening in the evening and at night — precisely when people who have been out drinking are tempted to grab a scooter for the ride home. Police are urging people not to ride under the influence and are looking for ways to cut the number of incidents.
Reykjavík in the last few years has become one of those cities where hopping on a shared e-scooter feels like the easiest way to get between bars, restaurants and hotels. The app-based rentals are cheap, widely available and genuinely handy in a compact capital. The catch is that Iceland's nightlife runs late, and a scooter that seems like a fun shortcut at 1am becomes a genuine hazard after a few drinks — as this case shows, falls at 25 km/h without protective gear cause real injuries, not just scrapes.
If you're visiting, treat the scooters the way you'd treat a car: sober use only, and ideally in daylight. Consider whether you actually need one at all — central Reykjavík is small enough that most of it is walkable, and taxis are readily available for late nights. Helmets generally aren't provided with shared scooters, which makes the risk equation worse, and riding drunk can also carry legal consequences on top of the physical ones.
For anyone planning a city break in Iceland, this isn't a reason to avoid e-scooters — it's just a reminder that the same rules of common sense apply on a holiday night out as they do at home. Walk, take a taxi, or wait until morning.
