Rider captured speeding through tunnel in Espoo on electric scooter

A video circulating on social media depicts a dangerous situation in which a rider on an electric scooter is speeding through a tunnel in Espoo. The first report on this incident came from Länsiväylä.

In the video, the electric scooter operator can be seen traveling at high speed in the Mestarintunnel on Ring Road I. The footage was captured by a driver in a car who claims that the car’s speedometer indicates they were driving between 80 to 100 kilometers per hour. The exact timing of the video remains unclear, but it was shared on the messaging platform X on August 19th.

Commissioner Hannu Kontola from the West Uusimaa Police Department expressed to Ilta-Sanomat that he believes the video appears to be authentic and considers the scooter rider’s actions life-threatening. He noted to Helsingin Sanomat that it is difficult to reliably determine the speed of the electric scooter based solely on the footage of the car’s speedometer. However, he assessed that the scooter rider was indeed exceeding speed limits significantly.

Moreover, the type of electric scooter used by the rider may be illegal. Vehicles that can exceed 25 kilometers per hour must be registered, but electric scooters cannot be registered as mopeds since they do not meet the necessary type requirements. As a result, electric scooters traveling over 25 kilometers per hour are not roadworthy.

There have been several serious accidents involving electric scooters over the summer, some of which have resulted in fatalities. Notably, a 12-year-old child died in June when a car collided with three children riding electric scooters in Vantaa. On August 15, two men riding electric scooters crashed into each other in Espoo, leading to one man’s death from his injuries.