Morocco Cracks Down on Scooters as New Regulations Loom

In Marrakech, Casablanca or Tangier, local authorities are waging a fierce battle against scooters that cause many traffic accidents. Control operations are underway in these cities to put an end to the anarchy of two-wheelers in general and electric scooters and mopeds in particular, pending the adoption of new regulations.

This includes the draft regulation amending and incorporating Regulations No. 2.10.421 on motor vehicles and No. 2.10.420 on road regulations. This text, proposed by the Minister of Transport and Logistics, sets new safety rules for two-wheelers, in terms of speed limits and helmet wearing in particular. The draft also provides for a strengthening of the roles of local road safety councils in order to raise public awareness of these new rules.

Like mopeds, scooters will now be governed by the Highway Code. In the proposed text, these two-wheelers are grouped under the term "individual motor vehicle" and their speed will now be limited to 25 km/h. With this decree pending validation by the government council, scooters are required to have position lights, day and night, one or more rear reflectors, orange side reflectors and a white front reflector.

The government thus intends to guarantee responsible use of scooters and strengthen road safety in order to reduce the number of accidents caused by these two-wheeled vehicles. According to data from the National Road Safety Agency (NARSA), road accidents involving mopeds result in more than 1,400 deaths per year, 44% of which are young people aged 15 to 29. In detail, 1,321 motorized two-wheeler users and 77 tricycle users lost their lives in road accidents in 2022.