Accidents waiting to happen.
- Thread starter postman
- Start date
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Lozz360
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Some e scooters are good at stopping with dual electric and disc brakes. Others are rubbish at stopping because they only rely on electric braking. If they were legalised for private owners use then standards of braking could be regulated.
captain nemo1701
Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
- Location
- Bristol
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Sorry, from my own first hand experience I beg to differ greatly.
Compared to a bicycle weight is distributed further forward and higher, and closer in to the fulcrum point, which is itself much closer to the ground.
Emergency brake on a bicycle, brace arms, shift weight back, you can even lock up wheels and stay upright. Brake anything like as hard on a scooter, you cant shift you're weight, and that weight (or more correctly, mass) is thrown against the bars which act as a long, very efficient lever to act around the fulcrum of the front axle.
Try it. I have.
The layout is inherently unstable. This is why sports cars hug the ground instead of being upright like scooter riders. In the case of scooters, good brakes do nothing to improve the instability issue. The wheelbase would need to be increased massively to overcome this issue.
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Lozz360
Veteran
- Location
- Oxfordshire
The problem with the government’s trials is that being rental scooters they are being abused. They are often ridden by people with little or no experience, possibly underage (although I thought you had to have a driving licence to hire them). Private users are more likely to look after them and not ride them like twats. The government should trial with privately owned scooters with the same rules (15.5-mph maximum speed). The problem at the moment, is privately owned scooters are not legal in public areas so they can't be insured. There are plenty around and some can travel at 50-mph. If they were legalised, there would be rules about capping the maximum speed in the same way that e-bikes are. At the moment a 50-mph+ e scooter is just as illegal as one that is limited to 12.5-mph.
They are the future of urban travel IMO. I do not believe they are any threat to cycling as some of the posts on this thread appear to infer. I had a go on a friend's e-scooter and it was so much fun I bought my own. It does not replace any of my cycling. I use cycling for exercise which the scooter is clearly not. I bought the scooter for fun but I find it useful for short journeys that I would otherwise use the car, such as shopping and visiting friends and family. I could walk of course, which would be exercise, but I'm often short of time. The scooter is convenient in that it folds to the size and weight of a small bag of golf clubs. There are places locally to me where there is no space to lock a bike to, and parking a car is completely out of the question.
Yes they are illegal (privately owned scooters) but so is riding a bike without reflective pedals, and I do that as well!
They are the future of urban travel IMO. I do not believe they are any threat to cycling as some of the posts on this thread appear to infer. I had a go on a friend's e-scooter and it was so much fun I bought my own. It does not replace any of my cycling. I use cycling for exercise which the scooter is clearly not. I bought the scooter for fun but I find it useful for short journeys that I would otherwise use the car, such as shopping and visiting friends and family. I could walk of course, which would be exercise, but I'm often short of time. The scooter is convenient in that it folds to the size and weight of a small bag of golf clubs. There are places locally to me where there is no space to lock a bike to, and parking a car is completely out of the question.
Yes they are illegal (privately owned scooters) but so is riding a bike without reflective pedals, and I do that as well!
captain nemo1701
Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
- Location
- Bristol
They are the future of urban travel IMO. ...
Segways...Sinclair C5 anyone?.
Segways...Sinclair C5 anyone?.
Joey Shabadoo
My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
Segway - over £6000 for the entry model
Sinclair C5 - approx £1900 in today's money
e-Scooter - from about £90
Sinclair C5 - approx £1900 in today's money
e-Scooter - from about £90
I only ever saw 2 or three Sinclairs in the wild back in the day.
I only ever saw 1 Segway.
I see multiple scooter riders on my commute every single day.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
But that requires riding in a ridiculousm uncomfortable, unsustainable position in order to do so. Not remotely realistic.
Joey Shabadoo
My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
Like recumbents then?
captain nemo1701
Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
- Location
- Bristol
Just like the lady I saw balancing shopping bags on the scooter handlebars before she went wobbling up the street....on the pavement too. I just thought ' Get a bike with panniers'. There seems to be way too much emphasis on the 'fun' of these things and not enough looking at their safety.
captain nemo1701
Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
- Location
- Bristol
£90?...cheapest I've seen start at £400 - ish. More if you go for the unrestricted models .
Joey Shabadoo
My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
Oooh - they have flying models too?
Joey Shabadoo
My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
Actually, is this going to be an example of laws following public behaviour? If there's suddenly thousands of them in use it's effectively a fait accompli and the law may be changed to reflect the reality.
