E-scooters to be allowed on public roads

[vickster]

My boy has got one, it's a great piece of kit. Of coarse I had to have a go, down the road and back, still had the smile on my face an hour later!

Presumably he only rides it on his private estate currently

 

[screenman]

The coach drivers forum is excited, " another slow moving target" one guy said, they mostly dislike cyclist.

 

[Drago]

Its not worth risking it. The Met occasionally have a purge, and finger 20 or 30 at a time. They get done for all the document offences, including no insurance. No insurance is considered a dishonesty offence, so you risk grief for years trying to get loans, credit, car insurance etc, and as a dishonesty offence its regarded in the same vein as fraud so shows on certain types of DBS check as well. All that on top of the fine and minimum 6 points is a real kick in the spuds, so I personally wouldn't even risk a quick jolly round the cul de sac on one.

 

[GM]

Presumably he only rides it on his private currently estate

Ha ha, of course, where else!

 

[captain nemo1701]

I'm glad I have 29 inch wheels & fork suspension. Imagine hitting a pothole & coming off in three or four lanes of traffic...Scary on a bike, seems a bit scarier to me on something with wheels that size. A small hole to my bike wheel must be a yawning chasm to those things. plus, this happens:


I remember the massive skateboard craze of 1977. We all had 'em & one discovered quite quickly that your nemesis was a piece of grit. Well, by 1978 the craze had died down as my mates & I opted for fun in a galaxy far, far away.... Skateboard in loft for about a decade, eventually chucked out. Of course, they still got used & are around now. But the fad was very much over from it's heyday when you couldn't move for them on the streets and lots of skateboard shops popped up out of nowhere just like quantum particles. but a year later...gone. I look on e scooters a bit like that, everyone goes nuts over them, but eventually it subsides, probably when the accident stats start climbing.

Speaking of skateboards, the inevitable e-skateboard has problems too:


I'll stick to cycling. My legs have never spontaneously combusted.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Oh wow! They shoot flames like a rocket ship too?

 

[dodgy]

People seem to be caught up on the whole "rental scooters only, why?" and "why do you need a driving license to ride a toy!!!?????".

Again, it's like already said up thread. It's a controlled pilot; known equipment, a given competency of participants having similar levels of training etc. This is so relatively safe conclusions can be come to at the end of the pilot.

There's no suggestion that once the pilot is over, you'd need a driving license and your own 15.5mph escooter would remain illegal.

I'd have one, possibly, but I'd be bothered that it would become the default non-active travel option. So I probably won't. Though I might jump on a rental to quickly get across a town I'm in but don't live in.

 

[newfhouse]

a given competency of participants having similar levels of training

I agree with your general thrust, but you only need a provisional licence and no CBT is required. I suspect the licence is a way of enforcing a lower age limit and being able to sanction anyone that (a) causes harm, and (b) gets caught doing so.

 

[Garry A]

We used the Lime hire scooters in Copenhagen. They were great fun and got us across town and back to the cruise ship. All seemed good.
Over here I think it will be total carnage.

 

[dodgy]

I agree with your general thrust, but you only need a provisional licence and no CBT is required. I suspect the licence is a way of enforcing a lower age limit and being able to sanction anyone that (a) causes harm, and (b) gets caught doing so.

Yup, think you mean higher age limit, but yes. If the trial had been all ages, all competencies, all personally owned equipment, it would have resulted in a statistical mess.

 

[newfhouse]

Yup, think you mean higher age limit, but yes. If the trial had been all ages, all competencies, all personally owned equipment, it would have resulted in a statistical mess.

I could have worded it better

I still think the stats will be messy unless effort is expended to bar privately owned and overpowered machines from the trial areas. I can’t see that happening.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Just had two kids shoot past my home office window, one on a BMX pedaling as fast as possible being chased by mate on an e-scooter, middle of road, swerving all-over, didn't bother slowing down for the staggered crossroads....

One can see it as natural selection at work....

 

[Ajax Bay]

Imagine hitting a pothole & coming off in three or four lanes of traffic...Scary on a bike, seems a bit scarier to me on something with wheels that size. A small hole to my bike wheel must be a yawning chasm to those things.

These vehicles have been successfully (sort of) operating in Paris for over a year now. Have to say I found them a challenge riding alongside them (on a bike in traffic) as they exhibited limited discipline eg lanes etc. So presumably the accident rate through 'pothole interaction' has been sufficiently low.
I think there is merit in setting the governor limit to 12mph (rather than 15) to increase safety. In London you'd still get round faster than a car (door to door).
Would also help the police discriminate (in a good way) between legal and illegal (ie ungoverned) vehicles.
And I hope they're kept on roads and (by law) off any thoroughfare where pedestrians are moving (eg shared paths). Cyclists can hold their own (alongside 15mph max e-bikes).
https://www.wired.com/story/paris-escooters-regulation/
In a survey - looking at use by locals (ie not tourists so perhaps relevant to most UK cities except London and Edinburgh) 8% of e-scooter use was a substitute for driving, a third was instead of using public transport and over half was 'instead of' walking. So not much 'getting people out of cars'. And inferred adverse health effects by reducing casual but beneficial physical exercise (walking).

 

[fossyant]

Scooters are even easier to chuck into the canal, so won't be any in Manchester - give it a week.

 

[confusedcyclist]

It's good news for me, I've always thought cheap electric bikes/scooters wheelers would change commuting, never ever thought electric cars would. Best way to get cars off the road IMO.

It's a nice thought, but unless there's an active push to reduce motorcar capacity on roads, Jevons paradox comes into play. No amount of fancy tech, or uptake in bikes will reduce the total demand for roads.