Electric scooters.

[HMS_Dave]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65154854
Parisians have (90%) voted to ban rental electric scooters in their city - a triumph for road safety campaigners.
The referendum was called in response to a rising number of people being injured and killed on e-scooters in the French capital.
Paris was one of the first cities to adopt the electric vehicles - but critics argue they were causing more harm than good.

Must confess (as one who was comfy with cycling in London) that my experience of Paris was 'wild west' scooter racer boy and extra care required.

90% of the Parisians that bothered to vote. Of which 8% eligible to vote did... It is what it is though, them's the rules.

I really doubt it will make much difference in the long run and that is highlighted in the amount of people that bothered to show up to vote. If they can't rent them, which im lead to believe they were expensive to rent anyway, they'll just buy them. Perhaps that is what many were doing. Rent them for a while to see how it affects their commute etc and then go out and buy one. Try before you buy...

 

[Drago]

I think the objection is that the rental ones just get left littering the place when not in use - dangerous and unsightly. Hence the referendum being about rental scooters and not all scooters.

I've driven through Paris a few times and the real danger there are loons on maxi scooters. Rumours are they are Japanese kamikaze pilots in training.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

As always it is enforcement that is the problem

You can put a load of people on the street with clipboards and uniforms - but the people that need stopping are the ones that will laugh and zoom off if they get shouted at to stop
The only ones you can book are the ones that were not really causing much of a problem

Bit like the pedestrianinsed areas that try to stop 'young people' whizzing through on bikes - they only book the older people who go through sensibly (but theoretically illegally) and stop when someone shouts!

 

[Drago]

That's how things work in the UK.

There will be a public outcry over something, and kneejerk legislation will punish the law-abiding, or the more sensible law breakers, while the real villains carry on ignoring laws like the always have.

 

[Dogtrousers]

90% of the Parisians that bothered to vote. Of which 8% eligible to vote did...

Not really on topic but that's an interesting example of why context is important for stats.

90% of Parisians ... mental image of crowds storming the Bastille while wearing yellow jackets.
90% of 8% of Parisians ... mental image of stereotypical Gallic shrug.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Not really on topic but that's an interesting example of why context is important for stats.

90% of Parisians ... mental image of crowds storming the Bastille while wearing yellow jackets.
90% of 8% of Parisians ... mental image of stereotypical Gallic shrug.

resulting in them being banned
hardly 'the will of the people' but that is how democracy goes

the ones that didn't bother voting have no right to moan if the disagree with it

 

[Drago]

They have every right to moan, but those that did vote can then roll their eyes and say "sacre bleu!"

 

[Beebo]

Rental scooters are a PITA when they are just dumped all over the pavement.
I’d be happy for them to be more regulated in the UK, but a ban on private ones is never going to happen as enforcement is impossible

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Rental scooters are a PITA when they are just dumped all over the pavement.
I’d be happy for them to be more regulated in the UK, but a ban on private ones is never going to happen as enforcement is impossible

Yup - rules that are not enforced are useless and lead to an attitude that they don;t apply to anyone

and I can't see the investment needed to enforce scooter laws coming any time soon
not even sure it could be enforced in any effective manner

 

[Alex321]

Yup - rules that are not enforced are useless and lead to an attitude that they don;t apply to anyone

and I can't see the investment needed to enforce scooter laws coming any time soon
not even sure it could be enforced in any effective manner

It could be enforced quite easily if there were feet on the ground doing so. But the resources aren't there for that.

 

[captain nemo1701]

How to ban private escooters - import ban. I don't think they're made in the UK. Especially the really powerful ones or slap like a 500% tax on them?. They are such a menace on pavements where 90% of the darn things are ridden.

I'll say it again - escooters are transport for the bone idle. Why do they need to do 15-20 mph on a pavement?. If you're on an escooter on the pavement, your legs mustn't work as far as I am concerned. And they undermine healthy active transport programs by local councils to fight obesity.

Plus, large fines for ignoring the law, maybe the right of anyone hit by one to sue the rear-end off anyone who decides that they are above the rules?. In Bristol, they absolutely infest the pavements, are ridden poorly, ridden by kids (like to see their driving licence/credit card!) and litter the place.

I visited a mate in Exeter last weekend....not ONE blasted escooter....anywhere.

 

[Alex321]

I'll say it again - escooters are transport for the bone idle. Why do they need to do 15-20 mph on a pavement?.

Your question is the counter to the first statement (ignoring the "on the pavement" part). Not everybody has the time to spend an hour walking somewhere, when they can do it in 10 minutes on a scooter.

It isn't all about being "bone idle". Some people use them because they are a quicker way of getting places than walking. Others use them for fun.

You and I, of course, strongly prefer to use our bikes for those purposes. But that doesn't mean others are necessarily wrong to prefer e-scooters.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Your question is the counter to the first statement (ignoring the "on the pavement" part). Not everybody has the time to spend an hour walking somewhere, when they can do it in 10 minutes on a scooter.

It isn't all about being "bone idle". Some people use them because they are a quicker way of getting places than walking. Others use them for fun.

You and I, of course, strongly prefer to use our bikes for those purposes. But that doesn't mean others are necessarily wrong to prefer e-scooters.

So the guy I saw on an Escooter wobbling around trying to go a slow as his mates walking on the pavement was just having 'fun'?.

I think you missed my point about exercise. Lets be honest here, we live in a lazy convenience obsessed culture. Fast food isn't fast enough for those who can't be bothered to get their lardy rears out of cars, so much in a hurry you get it handed to you in your car from a rear window.

All the effort of active transport undermined by 'Hey kids, don't like that hard stuff like walking?...jump on an (illegal) escooter instead...

Nobody in Bristol was consulted about this trial. Boris decided on it after he won the 2019 election and he loved his expensive London Garden Bridge to Nowhere along with his Bridge to N.Ireland.

Its not fun to almost get hit by one ridden along a pedestrian-only bus island.
It wasn't fun for my 72 year old friend getting knocked into a hedge by one.
Its not fun when they ride towards you the wrong way in a mono-directional painted cycle lane.

For years, cyclists got flack for riding on pavements, now its these farkin' things. In Bristol, you literally do need eyes in the back of your head. These things swoop & swerve all over pavements. And if you need to do 20mph on a pavement you should be on the road no matter how much fun it is.

Paris just made a good decision IMHO

 

[Drago]

Locally an old boy was killed by one of these. Some chump had left it across the path and as he bent over to move if the poor auld feller fell and died of his injuries.

The great British public have proven they can't be trusted with them so let's get shot before it becomes an epidemic.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Locally an old boy was killed by one of these. Some chump had left it across the path and as he bent over to move if the poor auld feller fell and died of his injuries.

The great British public have proven they can't be trusted with them so let's get shot before it becomes an epidemic.

Bristol in the 90's ...ONE bloke on a foul stinking go-ped. Now its dozens of these things all over.

Voi tried cameras to prevent pavement use but its pointless. They swerve all over and around you, the Tory party desire to get 'fashionable' with the super-techie yoof of today has introduced a risk to pedestrians, especially the elderly & diabled.

Plus, they just get dumped everywhere. I reported one the other week, practically left in a road, miracle no-one crashed into it. Its what I refer to as the 'fly-tipping' policy.

These things don't take cars off roads either, bulk of people hiring them are too young to either drive or own a car.
Pavements are really for walking, not convenience obsessed save-time-at-all-costs people who are in fact, fundamentally lazy.

And when the Li battery goes up...it really does go!. We recently did our Fire warden training & the trainer (ex Fire) showed us a video of three fire extinguishers attempting to put out an Li battery combusting - no effect at all. He told us of one incident where an escooter caught fire on a canal towpath so it was kicked into the water.....still burnt underwater. Also got the classic video from China where a cheapo charger caused the scooter to burn, literally filled a flat in 30 seconds with smoke.

Escooters: a mode of transport for those who can't be bothered with using their body for the task it was designed, who crave speed & convenience but are frightened of using the road. Foisted upon 'trial cities' in the UK by a Tory govt who never asked anyone. Aggressively promoted as 'the future'. Jumped up kids toys for lazy adults.

Vive la France