BBC Breakfast item today on illegally modded ebikes

[Ming the Merciless]

Driver was middle aged, quietly spoken and seemed a decent guy

Clearly not based on this exceptional hardship bollocks. He should have taken responsibility for his repeatedly bad driving.

 

[raleighnut]

I don't know anything about motorbikes, but I'd imagine that e-motorbikes can be quite sprightly performance-wise. I'd imagine that they'd appeal to the same group of reckless young men who were forever crashing their bikes and ending up in A&E (and worse) who I knew when I was a youth.

They're getting electric motorbikes around the Isle Of Man TT course at an average of over 100mph once the target of every 500cc single rider.
First guy to do it was Michael Rutter, son of the legendary Tony Rutter, and won the £10,000 prize for the first rider to do so. The lap record held by him now sits at 121.909 mph.

 

[Binky]

Clearly not based on this exceptional hardship bollocks. He should have taken responsibility for his repeatedly bad driving.

I can only go on the few minutes watching him in court. It could have all been an act to get magistrates to take pity on him. He did submit pages of info about how he needed car etc, obviously I didn't get to see this.

Anyway, any blame for him not receiving a ban should be directed at court. I think pretty unlikely any driver is going to voluntarily say they deserve one but seeing as he already had 9 points I was pretty surprised he wasn't banned.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

seeing as he already had 9 points

He should reign in his bad driving if it’s so important. Exceptional hardship ought to be removed as an excuse. The bloke has been caught 4 times which points to persistently breaking motoring laws.

 

[Binky]

He's one of over 10,000 with 12 points or more, the highest is 229 points.

Welsh driver with over 200 penalty points still holds a valid driving licence

Apparently the exceptional hardship argument can only be used once every 3 years so how some drivers are able to accumulate 50, 100, 200 points shows there's something wrong with the system!

God knows what their insurance premiums are though, must be astronomical.

Still, on the plus side I was able to claim for £10.75 for food and travel for today so it was all worthwhile 😂

 

[Drago]

OK, so went to court and after waiting around an hour in witness room the prosecution solicitor comes in and says he changed plea to guilty so I wasn't required to give evidence. Apparently he did this on Friday so why they couldn't have told me to save trip is another matter! The whole process there though was really half arsed, not what I was expecting.

Anyway, the driver already had 9 points on licence and the court gave him another 6 totalling 15 and a fine/surcharge total of £943.
However, he pleaded exceptional hardship as needs car for driving wife/kids to appointments, school etc and so court accepted that so didnt ban him. An obvious repeat offender but no ban. Pretty lenient I thought.
After I was told not needed as witness I went into public gallery to watch. Driver was middle aged, quietly spoken and seemed a decent guy but fairly obvious not a great driver.

Yeah, a decent guy when not trying to kill people.

The hardship bollards annoys me, putting road safety and justice second to his convenience, but we could be here all day bumping our gums on that one.

Well-done for sticking to your guns. I guessed they were trying to game the system.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

If a motor vehicle is essential for you/family, then surely you should ensure you don't drive carelessly and get enough points to lose your license.

Rather than continuously drive badly, get points, then plead that you need your license and judge gives you a slap on the wrist without taking away your driving privilege.

That's a disgusting outcome IMO.

Take away their license and make family use taxis, public transport, walk or even cycle.

 

[Drago]

If a motor vehicle is essential for you/family, then surely you should ensure you don't drive carelessly and get enough points to lose your license.

Absolutely. The time to think about hardship is before offending and endangering lives, not after you've been caught.

Its wrong that a road criminal can receive a lesser punishment that someone who offended in an identical manner but who may happen to have no responsibilities.

 

[dicko]

Our visit to Vancouver earlier this year revealed a city with well controlled cycle/e-bike and e scooter structure. There were clear marked ‘green’ lanes parallel to the city main highways and crossings controlled by traffic lights. There were no pavement cyclists and the ebike riders did respect each other the pedestrians and the motor vehicles. As Vancouver city was laid out on the ‘grid’ system things were easier for all this of course this won’t work here as our city’s are just a crazy mess of roads. The e-bikes and scooters were not speed limited they could certainly shift. However there is a big following of sport cyclist all turned out in very flashy cycle wear,

 

[Binky]

If a motor vehicle is essential for you/family, then surely you should ensure you don't drive carelessly and get enough points to lose your license.

Rather than continuously drive badly, get points, then plead that you need your license and judge gives you a slap on the wrist without taking away your driving privilege.

That's a disgusting outcome IMO.

Take away their license and make family use taxis, public transport, walk or even cycle.

Well all I can say is I did my bit as did the police but ultimately it's down to the courts to decide on final outcome. This was is the grand context of a lot of court cases a trivial issue (not for me at time as I was severely p*ssed off with a car at speed just missing me) but overall when you consider what "proper" crimes are committed and sometimes justice never seems to be served.
That though is the situation. In this case it was 3 magistrates who decided outcome.

For what it's worth I'd at least hope the driver next time he passes a cyclist or another vunerable road user takes more care. Ultimately that is the reason I record my rides, to hopefully change driver behaviour.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

For what it's worth I'd at least hope the driver next time he passes a cyclist or another vunerable road user takes more care.

The evidence says otherwise, he’s a persistent offender

 

[classic33]

15 years ago I had a neighbour that had one, used it commute about 3 miles each way to Leeds city centre and back. A relative of mine had their mobility scooter taxed and insured for road use, they had a UK driving licence.

My point is both were very cheap to run and were a great alternative to a car for them both, I definately think road legal electric transport e.g. Electric Motorbikes of the type we are complaining about has its place. Its now down to the government ( ) to try and manage that.

The one I knew of was more motorbike than pedal cycle. Battery power had replaced petrol power.

 

[Binky]

The evidence says otherwise, he’s a persistent offender

Well I don't and neither do you know what motoring offences he's committed to get the previous 9 points. It might be driving or it could be no MOT or insurance etc. If I had to guess it's likely to be speeding as that's by far the most common and easily caught offence.

So, we could do sod all and maybe moan on a forum. Or we could report bad driving and at least there's a chance bad drivers do realise the consequences once faced with big fine, points, potential ban. Seeing as this latest one is for close passing a cyclist and he was told any further driving offence he will lose his licence then I'd say there's a decent chance he'll take a bit more care next time.

 

[Drago]

Hell never learn. Then only way he'll stop is if he has to take the bus,

 

[Dogtrousers]

So, question for CC-ers who are also motorcyclists: If you were buying a motorbike now, would you get/consider an electric one?

Or are you too much in love with the oily petrolly spannery nature of motorbikes?