Electric scooters/bikes

[henry d]

I know that they are illegal here, however during our holiday in Spain lots of people were using them from young to old. I didn't see any problems or accidents, yet I have seen people, on news reports, getting stopped etc and I wonder if we need to sort this out for large cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle as it would help air quality, congestion etc

Most large cities have large numbers of commuters traveling in and infrastructure is already there to get people to the city but then it's buses, bikes, taxis to complete the journey or a car from door to door.

However the government seems not to want them so is it possible that its a neat solution but would be too cheap as they could not tax them much due to their small size and because of the way e-cars are being given all kinds of subsidies to make them more popular. 

Apart from that I quite fancy one.

[SpringDon]

Perfectly legal here, what are you on about? The only uk restriction is that untaxed ones (pushbikes) are limited to 25kph. Electric scooters and motorcycles are freely available and subject only to road traffic legal restrictions.

[Mr.C]

Plenty about in London. Both on the road full sized electric mc/scooter, on the road, and the push scooter type which seem to prefer using the pavement which is dangerous for me and the dog.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Uninsured, unregulated and no way of knowing who is riding them.

 

Once they cause an accident they will be gone with no comeback.

[Guest cookoff013]

Someone uses one around here. Probably going to get run over soon. He was riding very reckless.

[nobbyathome]

i work i n central london and most of the riders are reckless and dangerous sooner or later someone is going to get killed either one one or by one in my honest opinion  if they are on the road they should be insured and taxed 

[henry d]

1 hour ago, SpringDon said:

Perfectly legal here, what are you on about? The only uk restriction is that untaxed ones (pushbikes) are limited to 25kph. Electric scooters and motorcycles are freely available and subject only to road traffic legal restrictions.

Not according to this https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/science/technology/e-scooters-why-are-they-not-legal-on-uk-roads/

[old man]

1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Uninsured, unregulated and no way of knowing who is riding them.

 

Once they cause an accident they will be gone with no comeback.

Just the normal way of things now, £up and £off?

[Wb123]

A number of colleagues use electric bikes here. The rules in the UK are really not very restrictive, either you have a power assisted bicycle which is treated like a bicycle, or if you exceed those specifications and end up with something more akin to an auto cycle or moped it is treated like an auto cycle or moped. 

 

Having looked up the scooters they do look interesting, a bicycle does seem much more practical though. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by Wb123

[SpringDon]

1 hour ago, henry d said:

Not according to this https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/science/technology/e-scooters-why-are-they-not-legal-on-uk-roads/

Scooter means something different to me than to you. Those things are classed as powered transporters and have to meet road traffic standards, which they don’t and they can’t be driven on the pavement for the same reason that cars shouldn’t be driven on the pavement.

They still perfectly legal to purchase and use on private land.

[henry d]

I meant anything from the kids style push scooters through bikes like this...

To this puppy...

[Rewulf]

A bloke overtook me on one the other night, no lights, no helmet, the thing he was stood on looked tiny, wheels were around 5 inch. 

I was doing just over 35mph, I reckon he was at about 45mph.

[Vince Green]

They are not legal over here on public roads footpaths or public places such as parks. Some of them now can hit incredible speeds

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h-qGqeY4lw

Edited October 28, 2019 by Vince Green

[Raja Clavata]

They are a bloody liability here in France, no idea why they are not banned.

[oowee]

Up to 250w and max speed of 25 kph electric assisted bikes are legal without insurance. The tuned and high power ones are not legal without insurance tax ect. There are some full power electric motor bikes now and they are awesome. 

Lots of people here have the electric mountain bikes. You can do long down hils and then cycle back to the top of the hills no problem. Even with just 250w some of the motors peak at 85 nm of torque. They are being reviewed and its hoped that the top speed may be relaxed to 20mph. With a range of over 100 miles for some of the assisted tourers its a great way to get people out that might not otherwise ride. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by oowee

[Vince Green]

7 hours ago, Rewulf said:

A bloke overtook me on one the other night, no lights, no helmet, the thing he was stood on looked tiny, wheels were around 5 inch. 

I was doing just over 35mph, I reckon he was at about 45mph.

There is stuff on youtube claiming over 120km/h and weaving in an out of traffic

[Raja Clavata]

3 minutes ago, oowee said:

Lots of people here have the electric mountain bikes. You can do long down hils and then cycle back to the top of the hills no problem.

Murdering my Strava KoMs🤣

[oowee]

Just now, Raja Clavata said:

Murdering my Strava KoMs🤣

Strava ******* 

[Raja Clavata]

1 minute ago, oowee said:

Strava ******* 

Oi, what with people driving around with the app running on their phone, the struggle is very real🤪

I was gonna say you posted too many * but then I remembered the actual phrase 🤣

[oowee]

Lol . We have a hill here I was KOM and then my wife drove up it. 

[Landyjoe]

23 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Uninsured, unregulated and no way of knowing who is riding them.

 

Once they cause an accident they will be gone with no comeback.

Not wrong, just like cyclists. Or am I missing the point here??

 

[Raja Clavata]

3 minutes ago, Landyjoe said:

Not wrong, just like cyclists. Or am I missing the point here??

 

Plenty of cyclists actually have £15M of public liability insurance through British Cycling membership and other schemes. It's a shame more are not insured as the cover also provides support in the case where the third party is to blame.

[Penelope]

Had two bearded, sockless, metro-sexual hipster idiots fail to stop at two separate zebra crossings in Farringdon, London yesterday, on these children's toys (leccy scooter akin to the old push along type I had when I was 5), whilst I was crossing, one narrowly missing me, after it came up the inside of a black cab that had stopped.

The 'between E & G wits' obviously feel that the rules of the road don't apply to them.

Edited October 29, 2019 by Penelope

[Landyjoe]

4 hours ago, Raja Clavata said:

Plenty of cyclists actually have £15M of public liability insurance through British Cycling membership and other schemes. It's a shame more are not insured as the cover also provides support in the case where the third party is to blame.

I don't think it's plenty that have insurance let's be honest here. It will be a small fraction in reality I'd say. 

I don't have a problem with these scooters as long as they are ridden sensibly. It gets more people out of driving cars when they really don't need to be freeing up roads. 

[Raja Clavata]

If you consider anyone who rides a bike to be a cyclist then I would agree it's a smaller fraction than the "cyclists" I was referring to earlier. I can't readily recall anyone I know who regularly rides on public roads, including London commutes, who isn't a BC member.

Just like with cycling I would advocate anyone riding a scooter be required by law to wear a helmet. As a small scale personal mobility solution they are a great idea and when used as intended better than a lot of other alternative transportation methods, the issues arise in the mis-use cases of people with little or no regard for their own safety or that of others - just like a lot of people who ride bikes (who I don't necessarily consider to be cyclists 😉)