Electric scooters

[DJWrongspeed]

There are tons of them in Paris. You can hire them even and then use the many cycle lanes.
Cycled through Paris recently and was amazed by the level of cycle infrastructure. I don't really mind scooters using cycle lanes it's the roads that would be the problem.

Obviously cycling is far superior , you never get off a bike depressed.

 

[pogofish]

Several people using them to commute into town on my road - Of course they could be parking further-out and riding them-in because the pavement ends about a quarter mile off the end of the road and I would be staggered if anyone had the balls to ride one in from the country on that road in the morning - The new bypass may have significantly reduced traffic and particularly heavy traffic but if anything the speeding is well-up.

All are well prepared with headgear and high-vis plus a few with headcams but I've seen quite a few fall-off when hitting the slightly raised edge of the crossing to get-on to the pavement to the bridge at the roundabout.

Further into town, they can also be seen regularly on some of the main streets, weaving along between pedestrians and a few bams using those "hoverboard" things - incl a guy who took a spectacular spill into a busy road - lucky he was wearing knee and elbow pads as well as his helmet but sheer luck the vehicles missed him. So far, no significant interest from the police.

 

[andysays]

How safe are electric scooters?

Riding an electric scooter on the road is forbidden in the UK at present. Nor are they allowed on the pavement. The only place they can be ridden is on private land, with the permission of the landowner. Riders currently face a £300 fixed-penalty notice and six points on their driving licence for using e-scooters.

They are classified as Personal Light Electric Vehicles (PLEVs), so they are treated as motor vehicles. That means they are subject to all the requirements a motor vehicle is subject to - MOT, tax, licensing and construction requirements - such as having visible rear red lights, number plates and signalling ability. Electric scooters do not have these, so they are not legal for roads.

 

[Pickman's model]

There are tons of them in Paris. You can hire them even and then use the many cycle lanes.
Cycled through Paris recently and was amazed by the level of cycle infrastructure. I don't really mind scooters using cycle lanes it's the roads that would the problem.

Obviously cycling is far superior , you never get off a bike depressed.

you've obviously never cycled to work

 

[Winot]

Saw police on bicycles stopping one this morning on cycle superhighway.

 

[Saul Goodman]

you've obviously never cycled to work

Or met another cyclist on the road.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

you've obviously never cycled to work

i do 5 times a week but at least the bit between getting off and getting into work i'm not depressed.....

 

[likesfish]

I take it you haven't been to India?

the closer you get to the equator the worse the driving
Spain Italy bad
Greece worse
Gulf states horrific being shot at by the Iraqi army was considered safer than driving in Saudi

 

[peterkro]

the closer you get to the equator the worse the driving
Spain Italy bad
Greece worse
Gulf states horrific being shot at by the Iraqi army was considered safer than driving in Saudi

Been to N.Z.?

 

[Saul Goodman]

the closer you get to the equator the worse the driving
Spain Italy bad
Greece worse
Gulf states horrific being shot at by the Iraqi army was considered safer than driving in Saudi

I'm not sure that's necessarily true. Have you ever driven in Russia?

 

[hash tag]

from today's tag, police clampdown

E-Scooter crackdown as Met Police launches first operation to target the machines, stopping 100 riders in just one week

 

[Pickman's model]

from today's tag, police clampdown

E-Scooter crackdown as Met Police launches first operation to target the machines, stopping 100 riders in just one week

Designated checkpoints? (mentioned in link) since when do we have designated checkpoints in this country?

 

[joustmaster]

There are loads about. Every week I'm seeing an almost exponential increase.

They look like lots of fun and people get around quickly and easily. I bet we see a lot more in the next year.

The Lime hire site says they are coming soon to London...

 

[A380]

Designated checkpoints? (mentioned in link) since when do we have designated checkpoints in this country?

First they came for the hipsters on oversized children’s toys...

 

[hash tag]

London to become car free and free scooters for everyone. Perhaps had they not spent billions on useless cycle lanes which are not working, they could have spent it of free scooters
Call for London to be car-free by 2030

 

[Crispy]

useless cycle lanes which are not workin

Absolutely rammed with cyclists on my commute, more every month. Seen to be working well. (Stats welcome)

 

[Winot]

They’re certainly not working for the Canary Wharf Group, who are opposing them. I’m sure it’s got nothing to do with the chauffeured route to work of the boss.

 

[Winot]

PS plenty of electric scooters used on the segregated cycle routes (and I’m happy to have them there, even if the law hasn’t yet caught up).

 

[hash tag]

Absolutely rammed with cyclists on my commute, more every month. Seen to be working well. (Stats welcome)

Cambridge Circus is an utter failure on every score. There are/were one or two dodgy junctions down at Bromley By Bow and Exhibition Road that I know of.

 

[Winot]

Cambridge Circus is an utter failure on every score.

There isn't a cycle lane through Cambridge Circus.

 

[hash tag]

Apologies. Queens Circus. Battersea.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

They’re certainly not working for the Canary Wharf Group, who are opposing them. I’m sure it’s got nothing to do with the chauffeured route to work of the boss.

Can piss off. Canary Wharf had the most expensive road in the UK built for them....The Limehouse Link

Thing about the scooters is that they're no more safe than cycling and they don't wear helmets? They have to be speed restricted otherwise you'll just end up with nasty accidents. It's scooters/motobikes who seem to be the most at risk of accidents in my experience.

 

[hash tag]

On a motorway Man killed after riding e-scooter along French motorway

 

[Saul Goodman]

On a motorway Man killed after riding e-scooter along French motorway

From that article:

He is not believed to have been wearing a helmet at the time of the incident, and was reportedly travelling in the fast lane of the motorway when he was hit from behind by the vehicle.

Probably a graduate from the SpookyFrank school of cycling

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Was in the Sloaney area of town on Saturday and saw one electric scooter go by and an electric uni-wheel thing which was moving at a decent pace. With all the filth plodding the streets why are they not stopping these people? I really couldn’t care less either way, but it seems to be blates breaking the law and getting away with it???

 

[DJWrongspeed]

From the Indie article

‘We want people to have the option of a green mode of transport rather than diesel buses or cars

Yeah right, how green is your battery? And anyway if you can make it on a scooter you can make on a bike , and quicker.

 

[hash tag]

I saw a middle aged woman racing along (at 15mph) the narrow pavement of quite a busy shopping road today. She was wearing a crash helmet, but what about the poor pedestrians who had to jump out of her way

 

[Saul Goodman]

I saw a middle aged woman racing along (at 15mph) the narrow pavement of quite a busy shopping road today. She was wearing a crash helmet, but what about the poor pedestrians who had to jump out of her way

What I don't understand is why the clothesline technique isn't used more often on these people. They're a menace to society, and should be treated accordingly.

 

[mauvais]

I tried a Lime scooter in Prague at the weekend, although I wasn't the one to pay for it or set it up etc. It was alright once used to it, but I'd much rather have a bike.

The throttle is pretty much binary, and Prague is full of cobbled streets. It handled it but wasn't ideal. That said, someone managed 33kph on one.

It seemed relatively well managed; they're not littered everywhere, there are go-slow zones, and you get a fine if you leave it in a no-parking zone.

 

[hash tag]

On a meeting thing I was on last week, there was a chap there in his 50s I guess whose mobility was very poor and he went nearly everywhere on an electric scooter.
He got the lightest one he could so he could easily take it on to buses, trains etc.