Victoria police choose to pursue Nick Kyrgios over failure to wear a helmet on an electric scooter

Tennis star Nick Kyrgios is facing a please-explain from police and potential fines for riding an electric scooter while not wearing a helmet and with a passenger aboard.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has confirmed that highway patrol will look into a photo showing Nick Kyrgios on a scooter in Melbourne without a helmet with his bombshell girlfriend, Costeen Hatzi.

Trial Scooter Rules in Victoria

Electric-powered scooters (e-scooters) are increasingly being used to transport in major cities worldwide, including Australia. In Victoria, we have seen an increasing number of people ride private e-scooters on public roads and footpaths despite being illegal, making Victoria the first state to Trial the scooters.

Trial rules

The trial’s regulatory framework has been developed with a range of stakeholders, including our road safety partners, and is enforced by Victoria Police.

For the trial, e-scooter riders: 

• can only ride commercial hire e-scooters by approved operators
  • private e-scooter use will continue to be prohibited on public roads and road-related areas
• can only ride in participating council areas(see maps below)
  • operators will use geofencing technology to limit the devices to these areas, and there are no-go and go-slow zones within trial areas
• can only ride on bicycle lanes, shared paths and lower speed roads (up to 50km/h)
  • riders are not permitted on roads with a speed limit of 60km/h or higher, even if there is a protected bike lane
  • riders should slow down and give way to pedestrians on shared paths
• must not ride on footpaths
• will be automatically speed limited to 20km/h
• must be at least 18 years old
• must wear a helmet
• must not ride under the influence of alcohol or drugs
  • riders must be below 0.05 BAC and have zero presence for prescribed drugs (heavy fines and loss of licence penalties apply)
• must not consume intoxicating substances whilst riding
• must not use a mobile device while riding
• must not carry passengers
• must ride single file
• must park an e-scooter in accordance with council and operator requirements
  • in an upright position on the kerbside, in a manner that does not obstruct the footpath for pedestrians
  • no-parking areas and preferred parking areas will be shown in the app

Penalties and infringements apply (see FAQs)