E-Scooter discussion after fatal collision

Caporegime
Joined
30 Jul 2013
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It absolutely does, licensing regs and road use regs can be monitored. The police can act on offenders more easily and...
...this is only a trial.

So if I apply your argument to another form of transport, we should only be able to rent cars, not privately own them?

OK, not a completely fair comparison as they have a number plates to track them more easily. But if the police stop an e-scooter what's to stop them checking you have a valid licence regardless of whether it's rented or owned?

I accept that it's a trial and will hopefully lead to a complete change. I don't own an e-scooter but have some friends that commute to work on them.

I do also think they should change the speed limit of e-bikes to match North America, but that's another topic.
 
Transmission breaker
Don
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So if I apply your argument to another form of transport, we should only be able to rent cars, not privately own them?

OK, not a completely fair comparison as they have a number plates to track them more easily. But if the police stop an e-scooter what's to stop them checking you have a valid licence regardless of whether it's rented or owned?

I accept that it's a trial and will hopefully lead to a complete change. I don't own an e-scooter but have some friends that commute to work on them.

I do also think they should change the speed limit of e-bikes to match North America, but that's another topic.

By starting off this way, there can be some control, and we can help reduce the possibility that hobbyists with modified/homebrew scooters are not flying around on 40mph scooters with tiny wheels on the roads and pavements without recourse. The car comparison, as you say, is clearly not the same.

Just for a start the barrier to legal usage of licensed travel methods is much greater with a car/motorcycle than e-bikes and scooters, not to mention they are proven, regulated, and relatively safe.

Lets say that we allowed e-scooters unregulated tomorrow... We could have young teens and even children with no road sense, no helmets, doing 30+mph with tiny wheels unsuitable for such speeds, without the required infrastructure. If you are pro-e-scooter, this is a great baby step to making it a viable industry/travel method in the UK. Its unlikely to be rolled back now it started, and this is the beginning for wider adoption.

Scooterists should be very happy!
 
Caporegime
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Godalming
If I were president of the world I’d force all who use these to wear clown outfits. And i mean the whole deal, fluffy orange hair, pantaloons, massive shoes, the lot. I’d also force all manufacturers to supply them with speakers that only ever play the circus them, and play it LOUD. When they inevitably get squashed by a truck or bus or whatever because they have zero situational awareness and don’t indicate / have lights / know the highway code / jump on and off pavements / ride lin to oncoming traffic / texting whilst riding / have headphones on and can’t hear their impending doom incoming, the scooter will play this tune, loud enough for the whole postcode to hear:





At least this way we get some amusement out of it, rather than just a load of injured people and corpses who thought getting on a self propelled vehicle without a single safety feature on some of the busiest roads in the world and with no training whatsoever would be a good idea.
 
Caporegime
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I'm not saying they should be unregulated at all, obviously we don't want kids on these things.

But simply require a drivers license as you do with the rental scooters for private owners.
 
Soldato
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16 Apr 2007
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UK
Over the past few months I’ve seen a massive jump in use of these around my area! Mainly young teens with little handbags on speeding around the pathways. They look like great fun to be honest :p But at the moment, they look like a drug dealers dream :p
 

Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

Once you have ebikes competing for road space at the same speeds as cars, motorbikes, mopeds and HGV then you start attracting VED and insurance.

20mph in the US - so not as quick as cars. 20mph is a nice sweet spot though. 15mph is too slow, 28mph s class feels a bit too fast in traffic and around peds. I usually find myself cruising at around 22-23mph, even though mine can do up to 30mph. Side story - I once built an ebike with a 1500w geared front motor - it could do 45mph and absolutely terrified me - I dismantled it within a month (after trolling some Strava users first though).

This is the 45mph bike :- https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=52b73fc83d2eaff436b171d291cea8a2&oe=5F20BF9D
 
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Soldato
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11 Jun 2015
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Bristol
20mph in the US - so not as quick as cars. 20mph is a nice sweet spot though. 15mph is too slow, 28mph s class feels a bit too fast in traffic and around peds. I usually find myself cruising at around 22-23mph, even though mine can do up to 30mph. Side story - I once built an ebike with a 1500w geared front motor - it could do 45mph and absolutely terrified me - I dismantled it within a month (after trolling some Strava users first though).

This is the 45mph bike :- https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=52b73fc83d2eaff436b171d291cea8a2&oe=5F20BF9D

I use an EUC to commute to work sometimes and I agree 15.5mph feels that little bit too slow. I'll be happy when I get my next EUC as they can do about 30mph but I just want to be able to cruise at about 17-20 mph especially when overtaking people
 
Soldato
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20mph in a city is competing with other road traffic quite easily. If ebikes and scooters are to have a raised speed such as this, they should be restricted to paths and byways suitable for all motor vehicles and not for pedestrianised zones, parks and other designated non vehicle access.
 

Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

20mph in a city is competing with other road traffic quite easily. If ebikes and scooters are to have a raised speed such as this, they should be restricted to paths and byways suitable for all motor vehicles and not for pedestrianised zones, parks and other designated non vehicle access.

20mph is fine - I can ride at that speed without the motor. Most local parlks and shared paths have voluntary speed limits in place, so it doesn't matter if ebikes do 15.5mph or 20mph.
 
Soldato
Joined
2 Aug 2012
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7,809
At least this way we get some amusement out of it, rather than just a load of injured people and corpses who thought getting on a self propelled vehicle without a single safety feature on some of the busiest roads in the world and with no training whatsoever would be a good idea.

I struggle to see how anybody could do an emergency stop on one of these without ending up doing a massive faceplant.

It is hard enough to do on a push bike, and that's with much bigger wheels and a much lower COG
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Nov 2006
Posts
23,304
Anything powered on the road should need a licence, insurance and some kind of ID plate tbh.

Give it a year and helmets will be mandatory I bet, after a few people get brained.
 
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