Segways

[terry_gardener]

I have just seen that segways are illegal to use in the UK under the highways act 1835 section 72 as they are motorised and therefore not allowed on pavements but not allowed on roads as they are unregistered.

can someone explain why these are illegal and electric bikes aren't? thought both would come under the same rules.

shouldn't both be allowed on roads?

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I think it isn't just because they are motorised. They don't meet some unspecified safety requirements, whatever they are.

And some of the people using them don't wear helmets

 

[classic33]

Check the new rules for electric assist, came into force on the 6th April this year.

 

[vernon]

I have just seen that segways are illegal to use in the UK under the highways act 1835 section 72 as they are motorised and therefore not allowed on pavements but not allowed on roads as they are unregistered.

can someone explain why these are illegal and electric bikes aren't? thought both would come under the same rules.

shouldn't both be allowed on roads?

The bicycle uses electricity to augment the efforts of the cyclist and is therfore not an electric vehicle in the purest sense.

The Segway and Swegways are pure electric vehicles and need to meet the construction and use regulations of conventional electric vehicles e.g. cars and motor bikes which can not be propelled by alternative means. I suspect that special dispensation is given to mobility scooters providing that they are speed governed.

 

[Beebo]

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/12/hoverboards-illegal-pavements-roads-scooters

Love the video of the chap circling Mecca on his hover board

 

[sight-pin]

It's because electric bikes have pedals where upon segways / hoverboards don't. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-10/12/illegal-hoverboards

 

[albion]

Segway was lucky the inventor only killed himself on a Segway years later The things can be lethal.

 

[jonny jeez]

Love the video of the chap circling Mecca on his hover board

It would have been so much more effective if one of the women in the full length Burka was on one, that would have been awesome.


and a bit scary.

 

[Aperitif]

"When the segways follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." Eric Cantrideone.

Love the video of the chap circling Mecca on his hover board

Lucky he didn't have a Meccanichal.

 

[summerdays]

Weirdly I saw both a Segway on the cycle track this morning, and then further into town one of those strange boards. I managed to get a photo of him:

 

[annedonnelly]

Weirdly I saw both a Segway on the cycle track this morning, and then further into town one of those strange boards. I managed to get a photo of him:
View attachment 106618

It looks like pure laziness to me!

 

[Saluki]

I was told that segways are not legal to ride about on as they don't have a separate brake system. You pull back on them to slow and stop, there is no brake lever to do the stopping thing. I was told this by the woman who ran off road Segway tours down in Cornwall. Great fun to ride on and surprisingly harder on your body than you might think. After 90 mins off roading on one, I ached like anything the next day.

Those hover board thing are a bloody pain. Half the kids in town have them and they whizz about, weaving in and out of the weekend traffic on the front, slalom around the elderly folks on the prom. The freak the dogs out no end.

 

[Dec66]

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/12/hoverboards-illegal-pavements-roads-scooters

By Christ, there's some right wobblyheads on the BTL thread for that article.

Moaning about everything that isn't a Hush Puppies-wearing pedestrian that might be capable of over 2mph.

 

[postman]

A student was riding one inside Wilkos store in Headingley last Thursday,instore i ask you.

 

[Pale Rider]

I
can someone explain why these are illegal and electric bikes aren't? thought both would come under the same rules.

Ebikes have their own class and regulations - EAPC - electrically assisted pedal cycle.

Thus there is no regulatory comparison between ebikes and Segways/hover boards.

On the subject of the latter, my local bike shop tells me hover boards look like being the 'big thing' for children this Christmas.