Electric scooters.

[Accy cyclist]

I've just had a spat with a few pro knobhead/chav illegal vehicle users on a local Facebook page over the one below who's been seen flying around town on this contraption.

IDIOT......It's an electric mountain bike
Many endurance riders use them to aid themselves up rocky terrain I've seen this lad a few times put and about ,it goes at some speed ,not sure tho if he would need insurance with it be classed as a mountain bike ,electric or not because, to use the electric side of it he has to charge the mini battery by peddling first


ME......The maximum speed allowed by law on one of those things is 15.5mph. Any bike that is capable of going faster than that is classed as a moped and therefore requires registration and tax. In short the bike in question is not a battery assisted mountain bike,as I've seen the rider overtake cars,mine being one of them. It must've been doing 35 to 40mph going up Queen Street. Will the bike be registered and will the rider/owner pay vehicle excise duty? I very much doubt it!


IDIOT..... have you actually spoke to the lad ??
Have yiubhad a close up look at the bike ?
I bet the answers no ,well I have, and the battery on it is tiny ,

ANOTHER IDIOT JOINS IN(probably the rider,or a friend of the rider)
they’re road legal I think. Think they’re like 3 grand

wouldn’t mind one myself to be fair haha

 

[KnittyNorah]

'Conversation' with a neighbour, who expressed an interest in an electric scooter.
Me - you do know they're illegal to use on roads and pavements, and in parks don't you?
Neighbour - Don't be ridiculous, you wouldn't be allowed to buy them if they were illegal!
Me - well don't come complaining to me if it's confiscated by the police like the trail bikes that people buy ... (the local cops have done a good job confiscating illegal 'trail bikes' and assorted moped-like vehicles round here, to the extent that they are hardly seen or heard now. I hope they do the same for electric scooters)
Neighbour - oh ...

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I had a guy ride past my house yesterday doing about 25mph on what looked exactly like a smallish scrambler motorbike, except it was electric. No number plates or helmet.

It made me think that no matter how "unlawful" something is, once regulators and police have tolerated it and turned a blind eye for a couple of years (which they have), and once they're regarded by the public as "yeah, they're illegal, but only strictly speaking, and nobody will stop you", then the genie is very much out of the bottle. The whole environment of electrically powered conveyances is like "anything goes" now, too many weird machines appearing on the roads capable of moped speeds, and it's woefully regulated and policed.

And I'm a fan of the concept of e-scooters by the way, I just don't like how it's all going a bit wild west.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I had a guy ride past my house yesterday doing about 25mph on what looked exactly like a smallish scrambler motorbike, except it was electric. No number plates or helmet.

It made me think that no matter how "unlawful" something is, once regulators and police have tolerated it and turned a blind eye for a couple of years (which they have), and once they're regarded by the public as "yeah, they're illegal, but only strictly speaking, and nobody will stop you", then the genie is very much out of the bottle. The whole environment of electrically powered conveyances is like "anything goes" now, too many weird machines appearing on the roads capable of moped speeds, and it's woefully regulated and policed.

And I'm a fan of the concept of e-scooters by the way, I just don't like how it's all going a bit wild west.

They've been fairly seamlessly classified as "mofas" here (Small scooters)

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

They've been fairly seamlessly classified as "mofas" here (Small scooters)

A mofo on a mofa?

 

[Drago]

Neighbour - Don't be ridiculous, you wouldn't be allowed to buy them if they were illegal!

They guy sounds a right chump. I can ealk unto a shop and quite legally buy a balaclava, but that doesn't make it either legal or acceptable to use it to rob a post office.

 

[matticus]

I had a guy ride past my house yesterday doing about 25mph on what looked exactly like a smallish scrambler motorbike, except it was electric. No number plates or helmet.

It made me think that no matter how "unlawful" something is, once regulators and police have tolerated it and turned a blind eye for a couple of years (which they have), and once they're regarded by the public as "yeah, they're illegal, but only strictly speaking, and nobody will stop you", then the genie is very much out of the bottle. The whole environment of electrically powered conveyances is like "anything goes" now, too many weird machines appearing on the roads capable of moped speeds, and it's woefully regulated and policed.

And I'm a fan of the concept of e-scooters by the way, I just don't like how it's all going a bit wild west.

My thoughts exactly.

(You see this "legality creep" in other examples; phoning while driving, illegal fog/driving lights, tinted windows ...)

 

[KnittyNorah]

They guy sounds a right chump. I can ealk unto a shop and quite legally buy a balaclava, but that doesn't make it either legal or acceptable to use it to rob a post office.

She isn't the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer, sadly. That said, she was a real treasure during the first lockdown, when I had to shield/self-isolate because of both my age and because I was awaiting surgery. She did all my shopping for months, until I was discharged from the surgical clinics. So I have to be patient with some of her silliness.

 

[Accy cyclist]

My thoughts exactly.

(You see this "legality creep" in other examples; phoning while driving, illegal fog/driving lights, tinted windows ...)

May i add smoking dope while driving to that list! I see/smell parked up cars around the local park where the driver and his mates are smoking cannabis. I've seen the police drive past them and do zilch about it. If i can smell it why can't those who are supposed to enforce the law?!🤔

One idiot in one of those Saburu boy racer thingies is often around the park smoking weed while parked up. He then shoots off like a dragster car,reaching i'd say around 60mph for a few seconds...in a 20mph zone! He only slows down when he has to, due to reaching a very narrow road with pedestrians about.

 

[PK99]

My thoughts exactly.

(You see this "legality creep" in other examples; phoning while driving, illegal fog/driving lights, tinted windows ...)

...cycling on pavements, ignoring pedestrian crossing lights....

 

[Drago]

May i add smoking dope while driving to that list! I see/smell parked up cars around the local park where the driver and his mates are smoking cannabis. I've seen the police drive past them and do zilch about it. If i can smell it why can't those who are supposed to enforce the law?!🤔

One idiot in one of those Saburu boy racer thingies is often around the park smoking weed while parked up. He then shoots off like a dragster car,reaching i'd say around 60mph for a few seconds...in a 20mph zone! He only slows down when he has to, due to reaching a very narrow road with pedestrians about.

Thats very restrained Accy. You didn't use the word "chav" once.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Thats very restrained Accy. You didn't use the word "chav" once.

I don't want folk thinking i'm obsessed with chavs and their anti social behaviour!

Sometimes i do get a bit 'chavs are around us all the time'! For example, sometimes if i see someone not wearing tweeds, highly polished brogues and a collar and tie i'll have then down as a chav!🧐

 

[KnittyNorah]

E-scooter rules too lax, says injured Bristol cyclist - BBC News

 

[mistyoptic]

Words fail me

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-58360501

 

[Drago]

E-scooter rules too lax, says injured Bristol cyclist - BBC News

Hold on... the scooter that had him off was already been ridden illegally and the law failed to prevent this incident, so what does he think more regulation would do?