E Scooters > on the road

[ebikeerwidnes]

Ok - I'll bite


the problem here is that there are a load of "devices with a motor" that are appearing on out streets

Ebikes - which are limited but legal
electric bike - by which I mean bikes with a motor that do not comply with the ebike regs
e-scooters
hoverboards
electric unicycles
stuff
and $deity knows what else someone will invent tomorrow

and the government does not seem ot have a plan so anything with a motor gets lobbed into the 'moped' category
which is not really what it is for


they should have - some time ago - have come up with a generic concept of different electric (and other??????) vehicles
based - IMO - on speed and stopping ability


so anything with handle bars should be able to manage the rider's weight and so stopp far more quickly

an electric unicycle of hoverboard has no chance of stopping as fast


but that should have been done - and selling regulations enforced - a LONG time ago

how you sort it all out is beyond me

 

[Cycleops]

More than 5,000 e-scooters have been seized so far this year compared to 600 in 2020 so it’s a growing problem. There needs to be legislation to cover them as I understand you need to have a driving license to use them at present.

 

[Dogtrousers]

In London there are quite a few of them about and you do see people mixing it with the traffic on them. They look well dodgy to me, and of course they are illegal. I've not heard of any accidents but I don't actively seek out such news.

The govt will be on the back foot if/when they want to retrospectively apply regulation to them - and various other electric conveyances (both ones existing now and ones to appear in the future). For once that's not a political pop at the current administration, I think authorities around the world are faced with the same conundrum.

 

[Joffey]

Indeed. Being killed doesn't count as 'hurt'.

Cars kill - lets ban them too!

(TBH I would be happy with that!)

 

[T4tomo]

Commuting thru london a couple of 3 years back, I saw a chap on an eSkateboard, controlled by some handheld device.

he looked too cool for school until his poise was popped by not being able to stop as quickly as the traffic in front of him and he had to bail off sharpish and then retrieve his toy, once the black cab it had shot under, moved off!

 

[Cycleops]

In London there are quite a few of them about and you do see people mixing it with the traffic on them. They look well dodgy to me, and of course they are illegal. I've not heard of any accidents but I don't actively seek out such news.

There were 484 casualties involving e scooters in 2020 and one death.
https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...alties-great-britain-e-scooter-factsheet-2020

 

[Cycleops]

Fair comment @Dogtrousers It wouldn’t be so bad if all they were doing is injuring themselves but they’re injuring other road users which is why there is so much concern.

 

[DRM]

Saw a few of these hire ones in York, every single one being ridden at speed weaving round pedestrians, cars, cyclists cutting corners etc, the first impression was that they’re unregulated death traps

 

[classic33]

Fair comment @Dogtrousers It wouldn’t be so bad if all they were doing is injuring themselves but they’re injuring other road users which is why there is so much concern.

It's the pedestrians, on the footpaths I feel sorry for. Something coming at you at three times normal walking speed, and no means of avoiding it unless they take to the road.

 

[Drago]

One killed and one seriously injured while riding two up on a legal trial scooter up here recently.

For some reason even the riders of the legal scooters seem near incapable of riding in a legal manner. Within 3 hours of the local trial beginning the local plod had knocked one off for drink driving.

 

[All uphill]

I wonder - does that make them particularly dangerous or not? I mean in terms of accidents per unit time of use? And what will happen if we extrapolate that they are only going to get more popular? I have no idea at all of what the answers to these Qs are.

It could be that we should stop being such a bunch of fuddy duddies and get over our disdain for the new and concentrate on more significant risks, or it could be that it would be wise to increase regulation now because otherwise we're heading for a big problem.

Yes, I wonder about this.

Things appearing highly dangerous does not necessarily mean they are highly dangerous. When the number of cyclists exploded in Groningen years ago it looked lethally chaotic, but the accident figures didn't back that up.

As for changes to the law, what effect will they have without consistent policing?

 

[Arrowfoot]

It is a slow ticking time bomb when pedestrians, elderly and the young becoming vulnerable on paths and there is no insurance.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The ones I see round here are generally being ridden fairly well - not legally because
a) they are just plain not legal
b) they are mostly being used on the pavements

but I haven;t seen any being ridden dangerously. But then they are pretty low in numbers and I don;t go round much at commuting times.

Having said which - the local Liverpool paper gets loads of comments on any article about the things, and they are all saying how dangerous they are and how badly they are ridden.
Which is strange considering that the contract for the legal hire scheme has just been renewed - so there must be 'good reasons' to think that it has been a success.
Although the worthies that commented on the article said the 'good reason' probably came in a brown envelope - but then they say that about everything!!!!!

 

[Badger_Boom]

Saw a few of these hire ones in York, every single one being ridden at speed weaving round pedestrians, cars, cyclists cutting corners etc, the first impression was that they’re unregulated death traps

York is one of the legal hire experiment areas and there are loads of them. We've just had our first driving ban handed out for using one while under the influence.

 

[Saluki]

We have e-scooters, e-bikes and pedal cycles here on the Beryl scheme. I have had a couple of near misses with the scooters - kids, 2 up on them - using their parents account I suppose as the age limit is 16 years old and over. Saw a chappy taking his dog for a run along Marriotts Way the other evening. That was going quite well for a few hundred yards, until the dog saw a squirrel. The dog was fine, owner and scooter rider was not so fine.