E-Scooters - One death and a serious injury this weekend

[mjr]

Saw a couple of e-scooters in London last week, But when in Paris last year, there were hundreds of them and they were the hire type - pick up & leave anywhere. They really are a transport of the future - clean, quick, convenient and cheap. Just need some common sense guidelines for their use.

They do sound preferable to the stinky oilburning scooters that overtook me and made it difficult to breathe on some small climbs on cycleways in NL!

 

[MarkF]

I agree with @Brains, the laws need to change pronto & catch up with these machines which l believe are tthe future for City commuters, l don't believe e-cars will ever be so.

Kids banned from having fun, again. l'd have loved to have had a powered anything as a nipper and would have hoped my parents took me to a site with space set aside for kids to go mental...

I read some London based e- scooter commuter comments a few months back. They were of the opinion the police were turning a blind eye, as long as they were behaving with consideration.

Where l work, l see plenty, they are all on the pavements causing havoc, apart from one guy who passes me each morning on an expensive self balancing one wheel e-scooter.

 

[PK99]

On the road mixing with cars, like I do on my bike, fine.
On the pavement putting my wife and kids at risk, I'll have no problem standing my 100+kg ground as scooterist bounces off!

 

[graham bowers]

What's needed is a proper infrastructure that allows separation between cars / cyclists / pedestrians. OK, legislation as well to cover eventualities, but legislation without investment in infrastructure is not what's needed.

 

[gbb]

Itd be interesting for clarity on the subject just what kind of e scooter it is ?
Three types I can think of....
Motorised plank type scooters...effectively like large kids scooters.
E bike s that look like scooters that I assume can do 15 mph.
E scooters that do almost 30mph

 

[PK99]

Itd be interesting for clarity on the subject just what kind of e scooter it is ?
Three types I can think of....
Motorised plank type scooters...effectively like large kids scooters.
E bike s that look like scooters that I assume can do 15 mph.
E scooters that do almost 30mph

https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&...ahUKEwi07MXHuLfjAhWMMBQKHaHOBAYQvhcIcg&adurl=

but mostly without the 15mph restriction of this one

 

[gbb]

View attachment 475613

https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=l&...ahUKEwi07MXHuLfjAhWMMBQKHaHOBAYQvhcIcg&adurl=

Exactly...

 

[steveindenmark]

The design of them are awful.

I thought my Brompton was twitchy until I got on one of those scooters.

 

[Cycleops]

@steveindenmark is right and no amount of legislation is going to fix a fundamentally dangerous design.

 

[slowmotion]

I don't have a problem with them being on the roads but the pavements are a different matter. Some people who are old enough to know better ponce about at high speed using pedestrians like slalom gates. They look pretty smug too. That's unforgivable.

 

[mustang1]

I am in favour of electric scooters being used on the road carefully. They are an excellent form of transport.

Btw if you want a demonstration on extreme noise pollution, ear damaging noise, being hot and bothered, try London underground. If you want to be late but air conditioned, sit in your car. If you want to have yet another bus not stop for you because it's overcrowded, carry on waiting at the bus stop.

If you want to get to where you want to get to, use an eScooter.

 

[mjr]

I don't have a problem with them being on the roads but the pavements are a different matter. Some people who are old enough to know better ponce about at high speed using pedestrians like slalom gates. They look pretty smug too. That's unforgivable.

The few I've seen around here seem to be on cycleways mostly, but then I suppose so am I, so I won't see all the pavementeers. It's great fun if you do manage to overtake one, though - I guess those are the ones with a 15mph restrictor still.

By the way, I managed to outaccelerate a moped on Saturday from some lights in Rotterdam - mainly because its pilot fluffed the clutch, I think.

 

[Hacienda71]

I am in favour of electric scooters being used on the road carefully. They are an excellent form of transport.

Btw if you want a demonstration on extreme noise pollution, ear damaging noise, being hot and bothered, try London underground. If you want to be late but air conditioned, sit in your car. If you want to have yet another bus not stop for you because it's overcrowded, carry on waiting at the bus stop.

If you want to get to where you want to get to, use an eScooter.

Or you could just use a bicycle.....

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Or you could just use a bicycle.....

Less effort is a big win for a lot of people, ask any car driver

 

[captain nemo1701]

There's a guy rides one on the Bristol to Bath Railway Path and these things can motor!. My tuppenceworth is that they need restricting like E-bikes. Same goes for those silly wheel things. It seem to me that users don't want to go to the effort of pedalling, so these things are being sold on the basis of that great god people must obey - convenience without effort.

Now, bikes aren't allowed on pavements since you are mixing a faster mode of transport with slower. Likewise for mopeds on cyclepaths, although the Netherlands does allow them but Amsterdam recently banned them from cycle lanes. So mixing fast e-scooters with bikes can be a problem too and I can predict that these things will become more popular and will start flooding cyclepaths as the riders aren't legally allowed on roads. Same goes for pavements & cyclepaths but they don't seem to care.