Electric scooters

[T & P]

For what I've consistently seen in London I concurr with Bahnhof Strasse 's observation about the policing of e-scooters. Even when there was a full ban on them I routinely saw plenty of them about, sometimes going past police cars whose occupants couldn't give any less of a flying fuck.

 

[editor]

For what I've consistently seen in London I concurr with Bahnhof Strasse 's observation about the policing of e-scooters. Even when there was a full ban on them I routinely saw plenty of them about, sometimes going past police cars whose occupants couldn't give any less of a flying fuck.

The cops have had a couple of clampdowns. There was one on Brixton Road a while ago.

 

[Saul Goodman]

There is no test required to be able to ride one which means people often do not have an understanding of the road awareness; they do not wear a helmet or have lights on them so riding one means they are putting themselves and others at risk

Given that the same applies to cyclists, I can't see the old bill doing much to combat the problem.

 

[A380]

This is bollocks though:

There's loads of these things whizzing around London, a place with gazillions of Old Bill lurking around. All they need to do is stop one and they can confiscate it, they could take hundreds in a single day. Not like you'll be rushing out to buy a new one for a couple of hundred quid a pop...

They could just fill the property stores at London nicks up overnight with these things. Which wouldn’t prove popular with the property managers. “You’ve bought another three scooters in this afternoon PC Savage? Fuck off out of my stores you stupid dick ‘ed”

 

[A380]

Times 19 01 2021

 

[Puddy_Tat]

'A recipe for disaster!' - Police stop e-scooter rider driving up the M1 in the dark

Police stopped an e-scooter rider who was driving up the M1 motorway in the dark.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

 

[A380]

'A recipe for disaster!' - Police stop e-scooter rider driving up the M1 in the dark

Police stopped an e-scooter rider who was driving up the M1 motorway in the dark.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

Skillz

 

[T & P]

If you hold a driving licence and get caught drunk whilst cycling can you get done? Or perhaps more pertinently, do people ever get done for it?

I’m all for severe penalties for people caught operating motor vehicles while pissed, but given that cyclists and (speed limited) electric scooterists are of similar weight/ mass and travel at similar speeds, they should certainly be subject to the same degree of severity regarding such infractions. Whether that should be as severe as those caught driving cars is another matter.

 

[A380]

If you hold a driving licence and get caught drunk whilst cycling can you get done? Or perhaps more pertinently, do people ever get done for it?

I’m all for severe penalties for people caught operating motor vehicles while pissed, but given that cyclists and (speed limited) electric scooterists are of similar weight/ mass and travel at similar speeds, they should certainly be subject to the same degree of severity regarding such infractions. Whether that should be as severe as those caught driving cars is another matter.

There is no offence of being ‘over the limit’ whilst cycling. There is of being ‘drunk in charge of a pedal cycle’ but that’s one of the Victorian act jobbies (licencing 1872 I think but can’t be bothered to google it) like wanton and furious carriage driving so I don’t think they can do anything to your driving licence. Unlike the scooters which will probably be defined as mechanically propelled vehicles somewhere or other. Drunk for those offences mean properly drunk though, not just a bit tipsy.

Athos probably can define the difference better than me.

ETA I did Google it after all: s12 Licencing Act 1872, go me!

 

[Puddy_Tat]

If you hold a driving licence and get caught drunk whilst cycling can you get done? Or perhaps more pertinently, do people ever get done for it?

I’m all for severe penalties for people caught operating motor vehicles while pissed, but given that cyclists and (speed limited) electric scooterists are of similar weight/ mass and travel at similar speeds, they should certainly be subject to the same degree of severity regarding such infractions. Whether that should be as severe as those caught driving cars is another matter.

There is no offence of being ‘over the limit’ whilst cycling. There is of being ‘drunk in charge of a pedal cycle’ but that’s one of the Victorian act jobbies (licencing 1872 I think but can’t be bothered to google it) like wanton and furious carriage driving so I don’t think they can do anything to your driving licence. Unlike the scooters which will probably be defined as mechanically propelled vehicles somewhere or other. Drunk for those offences mean properly drunk though, not just a bit tipsy.

Athos probably can define the difference better than me.

I'm not a copper, lawyer or cyclist, but i wouldn't have thought you could have your (motor vehicle) driving licence endorsed for something you did while riding a pedal cycle or walking for that matter.

 

[A380]

I'm not a copper, lawyer or cyclist, but i wouldn't have thought you could have your (motor vehicle) driving licence endorsed for something you did while riding a pedal cycle or walking for that matter.

I don’t think you can. I think there needs to be either a mechanically proppelled vehicle or motor vehicle involved somewhere to get points or disqualified.

 

[T & P]

There is no offence of being ‘over the limit’ whilst cycling. There is of being ‘drunk in charge of a pedal cycle’ but that’s one of the Victorian act jobbies (licencing 1872 I think but can’t be bothered to google it) like wanton and furious carriage driving so I don’t think they can do anything to your driving licence. Unlike the scooters which will probably be defined as mechanically propelled vehicles somewhere or other. Drunk for those offences mean properly drunk though, not just a bit tipsy.

Athos probably can define the difference better than me.

See, this is yet another example of laws in this country being sometimes laughably absurd and/or taking a ludicrous amount of time to update according to the times.

Everywhere else in Europe electric scooters are actively encouraged to be used by people in cities as an alternative to motor vehicles/ relief to public transport- and rightly so.

The very concept of outdated pre-existing laws governing vehicles powered by an electric motors (or whatever the fucking problem might be in this blessed country when it comes to e-scooters) forever preventing a new mode of transport that’s by any rational reasoning a good thing from being used legally by citizens who are actually fucking eager to use them is as ludicrous as is exasperating. How long does it take to update/ repeal legislation that has clearly become unfit for purpose, ffs?

 

[T & P]

I'm not a copper, lawyer or cyclist, but i wouldn't have thought you could have your (motor vehicle) driving licence endorsed for something you did while riding a pedal cycle or walking for that matter.

I’d like to think so but I’m sure I’ve read in the past about e-scooter riders getting at least points on their driving licence for infractions on the road. Which I think to some degree is deeply unfair.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I’d like to think so but I’m sure I’ve read in the past about e-scooter riders getting at least points on their driving licence for infractions on the road. Which I think to some degree is deeply unfair.

e-scooters do seem to be treated as motor vehicles for potential driving licence endorsements (article here)

they are in a bit of a legal grey area, not quite licenseable as one thing, but not quite illegal. i guess the law will catch up with them eventually.

 

[A380]

I’d like to think so but I’m sure I’ve read in the past about e-scooter riders getting at least points on their driving licence for infractions on the road. Which I think to some degree is deeply unfair.

E scooters are propelled by a motor do they fit, stuff you propel with your muscles isn’t.

 

[A380]

See, this is yet another example of laws in this country being sometimes laughably absurd and/or taking a ludicrous amount of time to update according to the times.

Everywhere else in Europe electric scooters are actively encouraged to be used by people in cities as an alternative to motor vehicles/ relief to public transport- and rightly so.

The very concept of outdated pre-existing laws governing vehicles powered by an electric motors (or whatever the fucking problem might be in this blessed country when it comes to e-scooters) forever preventing a new mode of transport that’s by any rational reasoning a good thing from being used legally by citizens who are actually fucking eager to use them is as ludicrous as is exasperating. How long does it take to update/ repeal legislation that has clearly become unfit for purpose, ffs?

The law is indeed an ass.

 

[teuchter]

The problem with changing any non fit for purpose laws relating to road traffic is that drivers lose the plot when you try and do it. Look what happens when you try and revert space to being pedestrian only.

 

[T & P]

The problem with changing any non fit for purpose laws relating to road traffic is that drivers lose the plot when you try and do it. Look what happens when you try and revert space to being pedestrian only.

I very much doubt drivers would lose the plot regarding changes to the status of e-scooters. If anything it would be cyclists who would, seeing as the most vitriolic opposition to them seems to come from cyclists when it comes to bus lane sharing and other matters.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

If you hold a driving licence and get caught drunk whilst cycling can you get done? Or perhaps more pertinently, do people ever get done for it?

I’m all for severe penalties for people caught operating motor vehicles while pissed, but given that cyclists and (speed limited) electric scooterists are of similar weight/ mass and travel at similar speeds, they should certainly be subject to the same degree of severity regarding such infractions. Whether that should be as severe as those caught driving cars is another matter.

#76

Do you have a driving license? If so that can have points added for riding one of these scooters, if you get caught.

 

[T & P]

#76

Ridiculous IMO. Or at least, ridiculous that you would with an e-scooter but not on a bicycle. As it happens bicycles go faster and at higher speeds are more dangerous to pedestrians in a collision. E-scooters tend to be far more compliant with lighting at night than cycles as well. I continue to see multiple ninja cyclists on virtually every single commute home in the evening when it's pitch black.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

It all comes down to whether it is a powered vehicle or not. If not then you can be done for drunk in charge (bike, horse, non-electric scooter). If powered, a car, truck, motorbike, e-scooter are all treated the same. E-assist bikes are treated as bikes though.

 

[T & P]

It all comes down to whether it is a powered vehicle or not. If not then you can be done for drunk in charge (bike, horse, non-electric scooter), if powered a car, truck, motorbike, e-scooter are all treated the same. E-assist bikes are treated as bikes though.

Yeah, I get where the legislation comes from. It is still preposterous that there is a difference in the severity of penalties handed out. If someone is shitfaced in charge of a horse or a bicycle, they are as deserving of points/ losing their driving licence as someone on a 15 mph speed-limited scooter regardless of whether the vehicle is powered or not.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Yeah, I get where the legislation comes from. It is still preposterous that there is a difference in the severity of penalties handed out. If someone is shitfaced in charge of a horse or a bicycle, they are as deserving of points/ losing their driving licence as someone on a 15 mph speed-limited scooter regardless of whether the vehicle is powered or not.

I guess it's a question of where lines get drawn. What strikes me as unfair is that a shitfaced e-scooter rider who has no driving licence is unlikely to face any penalty with regards to a licence (points added should they ever apply etc.), which makes it seem that the police are just being nasty when they do discover a licence exists.

 

[A380]

Yeah, I get where the legislation comes from. It is still preposterous that there is a difference in the severity of penalties handed out. If someone is shitfaced in charge of a horse or a bicycle, they are as deserving of points/ losing their driving licence as someone on a 15 mph speed-limited scooter regardless of whether the vehicle is powered or not.

You should run for Parliament to get the law changed. UKScooterist Party.

 

[T & P]

You should run for Parliament to get the law changed. UKScooterist Party.

Any political party that starts with the letters UK is a red flag AFAIAC.
The Highway Code Reform Party sounds better to me. Item no. 1 in the manifesto would be to make jaywalking an offence with increasingly steep fines with every infraction commited. Also, compulsory lessons and insurance for both cyclists and e-scooterists.

ETA: Oh, and 'reverse' LTN routes within cities, where only motor vehicles are allowed. No cycles, e-scooters or pedestrians

 

[A380]

Any political party that starts with the letters UK is a red flag AFAIAC.
The Highway Code Reform Party sounds better to me. Item no. 1 in the manifesto would be to make jaywalking an offence with increasingly steep fines with every infraction commited. Also, compulsory lessons and insurance for both cyclists and e-scooterists.

ETA: Oh, and 'reverse' LTN routes within cities, where only motor vehicles are allowed. No cycles, e-scooters or pedestrians

Priority motorway lanes for Audis and BMWs?

Six points for anyone driving a car whilst wearing a flat cap or trilby?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Priority motorway lanes for Audis and BMWs?

Something the nation can get behind. And stay behind, choking on our fumes.

 

[cyril_smear]

I had Jeremy vine on in the background this morning, somebody got pulled over and banned from driving for 2 years after getting caught pissed up on one of these things.

 

[cyril_smear]

Do you have a driving license? If so that can have points added for riding one of these scooters, if you get caught.

Even if you don’t have a license you can get points. I’ve got 6 points on my “license”

 

[T & P]

Even if you don’t have a license you can get points. I’ve got 6 points on my “license”

If I didn't have a licence and was confident I was never going to bother to get one, I'd be tempted to see how many points I could rack up on my 'future' licence